


Brothers Forever

by KatoKo



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-01
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-03-26 15:02:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 24,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3854977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatoKo/pseuds/KatoKo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[COMPLETED] Akashi Seijūrō and Akashi Tetsuya are fraternal twins. They met a boy with orange hair at a streetball court who taught them how to play basketball one day in their fifth grade. However, after a three-on-three match with a gang, Tetsuya suddenly collapsed. What happened to Tetsuya? How will this affect everyone's lives? A lot of brotherly love coming up :D</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Otō-san, why do you and Okā-san always treat Tetsuya differently?” the five year-old Akashi Seijūrō asked innocently one day. Akashi Seijūrō and Akashi Tetsuya were twins. Fraternal twins. Their parents had explained to them that it meant that they were non-identical twins, considering Seijūrō had red hair like Otō-san, while Tetsuya had teal-coloured hair like Okā-san.

The young but observant nonetheless Seijūrō noticed that his parents had always doted more on Tetsuya which made the redhead a little jealous. He knew Tetsuya was younger than him, but it was by only a few minutes! Tetsuya was also physically weaker, but they were still the same age and were raised by the same parents, do why did they treat Tetsuya with so much more care?

Seijūrō had asked that question out of curiosity one night after he and Tetsuya were fetched back from their kindergarten and while Tetsuya was bathing since he had a gut feel that Tetsuya was not to know. He had expected a verbal lashing since ‘Akashis are not to be jealous’, but Otō-san had just frowned slightly and instead replied, "You will not understand it now, Seijūrō. But in time, we will tell you both. Please do not let your brother know about this talk." Seijūrō had just nodded at Otō-san’s stern look.

Little did he know that the reason why was not just a petty one, but rather a very serious one at that.

* * *

**Six years later...**

“Sei-nii, do you think basketball is fun?” Tetsuya, now in his fifth grade of elementary school, asked. He seemed to be expressionless but Seijūrō knew better. His brother was interested. Seijūrō and Tetsuya were switching channels on the large flat-screen television in their luxurious living room one night after they had finished their homework when Tetsuya had suddenly stopped Seijūrō. The channel had stopped at a live telecast of a basketball game.

“I didn’t know you liked basketball, Tetsuya.”

“I was just interested,” Tetsuya denied, giving his Nii-san a pout. Seijūrō smirked in reply.

Seijūrō thought for a while. “Hm. Our school doesn’t have a basketball club, unfortunately. Besides, you are already in the library club and the school does not allow us have more than one club. Perhaps we could ask Otō-san and Okā-san to buy us a basketball? Then we could use the street ball court near the school.” Tetsuya smiled slightly and nodded.

Switching off the television, they walked up to the third floor of their large mansion. Seijūrō knocked thrice on the huge wooden doors which opened shortly a moment later by a teal-haired woman who looked a lot like Tetsuya.

“Yes, boys? Do you need something?”

Tetsuya nodded his head and asked politely, “Okā-san, could Sei-nii and I buy a basketball? Basketball looks so interesting.” The twins had expected their mother to nod carefreely and give them some money to buy one, but her face paled more, if that was even possible since both she and Tetsuya were already as pale as a sheet of white paper.

After a moment of silence, their red-headed father appeared in the doorway and knelt down to their level. “Seijūrō, Tetsuya, I will allow both of you to purchase a basketball. However, remember not to overwork yourself,” he said calmly, then passed the elder of the two a few notes. Shrugging off the unusual behaviour of Okā-san, they immediately ran to their room to keep the money that Otō-san had given them.

* * *

 

The next day after school, Seijūrō had texted their parents that they would be at the streetball court and would be back home at around six. Their parents had agreed. The two walked briskly to the shopping centre right after school since both were in the same class so neither had to find the other. It would really be cumbersome considering that the younger twin had such a low presence that even the teachers would not notice him sometimes, marking him as absent until they realised Seijūrō talking to someone. Seijūrō and Tetsuya even believed that some teachers and classmates did not even know that Tetsuya existed, let alone realise that both were brothers.

After they had purchased a seemingly good quality basketball with the money that Otō-san had given them, they walked to the streetball court. “Hm, I wonder who would be better at basketball,” Seijūrō challenged.

“You will surely win,” Tetsuya pouted. Both were taught that winning was everything but Tetsuya knew from young that even though both were about the same standard, he would always be in Seijūrō’s shadow.

The two arrived and they both experimented at dribbling the ball. It was quite easy to deduce that the physically fitter of the two would be better. Then they tried the shooting as they had seen in the match on the television yesterday. Tetsuya wanted to try shooting the ball first so Seijūrō, being the good older brother (by a few minutes) he was, he let Tetsuya have the ball.

However, the younger brother had missed every single shot. And by missed, it meant that the ball did not even touch the hoop. Seijūrō had even sat on the benches nearby and counted the number of shots Tetsuya tried. It numbered to about fifty. “Sei-nii, I can’t shoot it into the hoop,” Tetsuya said, disappointment evident in his voice. He passed it to the redhead.

Seijūrō caught the ball that was passed to him and stared at the hoop. Based on the basketball players in the match, they jumped and threw the ball when the ball was in front of their foreheads. Seeing as to how heavy the basketball was, he had to use a considerable amount of strength. It seemed like what Tetsuya lacked was not only accuracy, but also strength.

He threw the ball. Seijūrō had expected the ball to enter the hoop based on his calculations, but it bounced off the rim and fell back to the floor. Seijūrō frowned. However, his younger brother had a different sort of expectations. “You… actually hit the rim!” Tetsuya marveled. Seijūrō knew that even thought Tetsuya was happy for his brother, the younger twin was still sad, not even able to make the ball touch the rim of the hoop even after his fiftieth try.

Seijūrō was about to comfort his little brother when a shout was heard from the entrance to the court. “WOAH! THERE’S A GHOST!” an orange-haired kid about the same age as the twins yelled in surprise.

Seijūrō’s head snapped up at the shout. “There’s no ghost. It’s only my brother.”

The newcomer looked closely and realised that a teal-haired boy was standing beside the redhead holding the basketball. “Dude! You have no presence at all! That’s so cool! Nice to meet you guys. I’m Ogiwara Shigehiro. We’ve just met but I can tell that you both are nice people, so you can call me Shige, for short!”

The twins were a little stunned at the sudden appearance of the much-too-hyper-boy. Seijūrō was first to recover from the shock though. “Akashi Seijūrō.”

“I am Akashi Tetsuya. I am sorry for scaring you like that, Ogiwara-kun.”

Shige looked dumbfounded. “Didn’t I just let you both call me Shige?”

Tetsuya replied emotionlessly, “It is more polite.”

“If Tetsuya does not want to call you ‘Shige’, I will. You may call me Seijūrō. Nice to meet you,” Seijūrō replied, shaking his head at his brother’s over-politeness.

Shige scratched his chin. “That’s a long name. Is ‘Sei’ alright?” Seijūrō nodded. “Well, it seems you guys play basketball! May I join?”

“Actually, we just had the interest to play basketball yesterday and we wanted to try it out today. Do you play basketball by any chance? Could you teach us the basics?” Seijūrō asked.

Shige’s eyes brightened. “Sure! I’m not too good myself but I’ll teach you! ‘Kay. Let’s start with dribbling!” Shige then went through with instructions on the different ways to dribble a basketball and tips like to use your fingers to bounce it and to make sure that the angle you dribble the ball at will make it go far enough for you to run with it.

Amazingly, the two boys understood the whole chunk of information he had blurted out like a sponge so he went on to passing, then to shooting, then to teamwork. “In basketball, I really believe that teamwork is very important! Like in a game, if you are marked and can’t move, you will have to pass, no? So if you rely on your friends, then you can pass it to them to score!” Shige had explained. “Alright! Enough of talking! Let’s try it out! Here, Tetsu, you can use my ball.”

Being the better one at basketball, he examined each one of their skills. “Ehh? Sei, you’re not bad at all!” Then he looked at how Tetsuya was faring and frowned.

“I’m not very athletic, am I, Ogiwara-kun?” Tetsuya asked disappointedly.

Seijūrō said, “You’re not, but perhaps we could use that low presence of yours to your advantage in a match. Like an invisible player, perhaps?” The other two stared at the redhead, dumbfounded.

“That would be awesome! Your passes seem to be the best out of all your skills!” Shige exclaimed as he finally realised what a good opportunity that would be.

“Maybe...” Tetsuya mumbled. Shige slung an arm over Tetsuya’s (who was considerably shorter) and grinned.

“Hm, I’ll pass the ball to you, then you pass it to Sei, alright?” Shige asked, bouncing his ball on the floor. Tetsuya stood in the middle of the court.

The ball came flying faster than Tetsuya had expected, since Seijūrō and he had only just tossed the ball at each other. Out of reflex, Tetsuya whacked the ball away in front of his face and it was coincidentally in Seijūrō’s direction and he caught it.

Silence blanketed the court.

It was suddenly broken by a shout. “THAT. WAS. FREAKING. AWESOME! Let’s do it again!” Shige yelled, pumping his fist in the air.

Tetsuya rubbed his right hand which was turning red. “But my hand hurts. Can we go rest?”

“Of course!” Shige replied, grinning like a watermelon peel was stuffed into his mouth to make him grin for so long. They went to the benches to sit and drink some water. “But Tetsuya, did you see what you did there? It’s like the ball suddenly curved in another direction! It was soooooo cool! How did you do it?” Shige asked excitedly. Seijūrō was also curious as to how his brother did it.

Tetsuya scratched his head, saying, “It was out of reflex that I just whacked the ball away. Your pass was so fast.” Shige’s mouth was hanging open.

“Wha... Are you serious? And you could do that? Awesome! And Sei! That pass was so fast and yet you caught it!” Shige continued ranting on and on. The twins silently listened to their new hyperactive friend.

Then a sudden question was asked which made Tetsuya almost choke and Seijūrō to spit out some water. “Wait… You mean you did not know what we were twins?” Seijūrō asked, baffled.

“You both have such different hair colours but then I remembered you saying that you both were brothers! You guys look the same age too. Lemme guess! You guys are in your third year at elementary school?” Shige asked.

“WE’RE IN FIFTH YEAR!” Seijūrō practically shouted.

Shige’s mouth hung open. “Wait, wait, wait. YOU GUYS ARE SO SHORT BUT YOU’RE ACTUALLY IN THE SAME YEAR AS I AM!” Both twins glared at the orange-head at the insult. Shige raised his hands up in defense. Sighing, the two just forgave the blunt and tactless teen.

It became a daily routine for all three of them to meet up at the streetball court for a game of basketball. They soon realised that Tetsuya was like a shadow, needing a light to lead him. Seijūrō became his light, becoming better at basketball every single day.

One day, while the three of them were practicing, a gang of three older middle schoolers barged into the court. “Hey, you two kiddos. The court is ours now. Scram or have your butts kicked by us!” the tallest and rowdiest looking member of the gang growled. Apparently, none of them noticed Tetsuya, amazingly.

Shige glared at them. “Oh yeah? You think we can’t beat you, huh? How ‘bout a game of basketball to decide who can use the courts?” The three snarled but agreed nonetheless.

It was surprisingly easy to win the match, as it seemed like it was a three-on-two while there was actually a phantom supporting the team of two. When they were finished with a score of 11-3, the gang had scrambled off with their tailed between their legs.

They were about to congratulate each other when suddenly, Tetsuya’s breath hitched as his body slammed onto the ground. He was clutching his chest as if he could not breathe. Shige and Seijūrō were stunned stock-still before finally regaining their strength to move. Both were panicking severely as Seijūrō knelt before his brother, shaking him, while Shige fumbled with his phone to call an ambulance. They just hoped that the ambulance would not come too late to save the teal-headed boy who was lying quite motionless on the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

The next few hours went by like a blur. One moment Seijūrō was trying to shake Tetsuya awake and the next, he was climbing into an ambulance with his basketball friend, Shige. The ride to the hospital alone seemed to take days. In the ambulance, the paramedics had been able to restart Tetsuya’s heart and placed him on a breathing machine.

It was really scary.

The ambulance brought them to the Tokyo Municipal Hospital and Tetsuya was immediately rushed to an operating room where the sign on top was lighted. Seijūrō and Shige were only allowed to wait outside.

“Hey, Sei, did you call your parents?” Shige broke the tense silence.

Seijūrō nodded and said, “I did, but they are currently overseas on a business trip. They said they would only be able to reach back to Japan tomorrow.” He paused for a while before adding, “I hope Tetsuya’s fine…”

Shige lightly punched the shorter boy in the shoulder and reassured, “Hey, Tetsu’s stronger than that and you know it! I’m sure he won’t give up! Have a little faith in your own brother!” Seijūrō just nodded and offered a small smile.

It seemed like an eternity before the doors to the operation room finally opened. Seijūrō immediately shot out of his seat to check on his brother. He was still on a breathing machine and was still asleep. A green haired doctor walked up to the boys and effectively halted them while other doctors wheeled Tetsuya somewhere else.

“Good afternoon, I am Midorima Shoichi. May I ask how you two boys are related to the patient that was just wheeled out of this room?” the doctor asked.

Seijūrō spoke up first. “I am Akashi Tetsuya’s older twin brother, Akashi Seijūrō.”

“I’m Ogiwara Shigehiro, one of Tetsuya’s best friends. The three of us were playing basketball when he collapsed, then we called the ambulance. How’s Tetsu?” Shige asked nervously.

Doctor Midorima smiled warmly and replied, “He’s out of danger already but I will need to monitor him for three more days before allowing him to be discharged. By the way, Seijūrō-kun, where are your parents? There is a matter I would like to discuss about with them.”

“They’re overseas. They will be back tomorrow.”

Doctor Midorima looked thoughtful. “Do you two need a ride home? It’s getting late.”

Seijūrō shook his head while Shige waved the doctor off. “I insist to stay here by my brother’s side,” Seijūrō demanded.

“I’ve already told my parents that I’d be staying over night. They should be coming over to visit tomorrow since they have never met Tetsu,” Shige replied.

Doctor Midorima chuckled lightly at the two boys’ protectiveness and offered, “Well, Tetsuya is in an ICU room with extra beds so I could possibly let you both sleep over.” The two boys’ faces lit up at the prospect of being able to stay. Seijūrō had thought that they would have to sleep in the waiting room or something.

“Thank you,” he said, then followed the doctor to Tetsuya’s room.

* * *

 

It was an hour later that Tetsuya had woken up. By then, Shige had nodded off while Seijūrō was still as alert as an owl. “Tetsuya!” he had almost shouted the moment his brother’s eyes opened.

“Sei-nii? Where am I?” he asked sleepily, yawning mid-sentence and realizing he had an oxygen mask on when he was about to cover his mouth out of politeness.

Seijūrō offered a reassuring smile. “We’re in the hospital. We were playing basketball when you suddenly collapsed, do you remember?” Tetsuya thought for a while before he nodded.

“What happened to me?”

“Well… You suddenly collapsed and stopped breathing, which explains the oxygen mask, I think. On the way to the hospital your heart even stopped. Otō-san and Okā-san will be coming back tomorrow morning. Shige’s parents will be coming to visit you too,” he explained. “How do you feel?”

“My body feels sore but I think I’m alright,” Tetsuya said. He was about to continue but the door to the room opened to reveal a boy about their age that look a lot like Shoichi-san.

He cleared his throat and pushed up his spectacles with the middle finger on his left hand. “Hello, I am Midorima Shintarō. My father had instructed me to bring some food for you,” the green-haired boy said.

Seijūrō and Tetsuya replied both at the same time, “Nice to meet you, Midorima-kun.”

The boy raised an eyebrow. “You two really _are_ twins. Nice to meet you.” Midorima then brought a tray of food over to the table near Tetsuya’s bed. It consisted of three buns and three packet drinks.

“Why don’t you get some food yourself and eat dinner with us?” Tetsuya asked, knowing that the third set was meant for Shige. Midorima blushed slightly at being asked to eat with them but scoffed and said he had eaten dinner.

That was when a loud grumble was heard. The green-haired boy’s cheeks flushed a darker shade of red.

“I can tell you want to eat with us. Come on, don’t be so cold. Beside, you are hungry, are you not?” Seijūrō teased. Midorima huffed but nodded, face still as red as a tomato. _Such a tsundere. Anyone can see through his façade,_ Seijūrō thought.

Meanwhile, Tetsuya was trying to shake Shige awake. Shige’s arms were used as a pillow as he leaned forward to sleep on the bed. Apparently, Shige was a heavy sleeper. And throughout the time spent together, Seijūrō had realized that Shige was VERY ticklish. By ‘very’, it really meant ‘very’.

Sighing, Seijūrō just jabbed Shige in the side, earning a satisfying yelp from Shige who was just startled awake. “Hey, Sei! What’s the deal, man?” Shige yelled. Then he saw Tetsuya awake and fortunately turned his attention to the teal-headed boy before trying to murder the older twin. Tetsuya answered all of Shige’s questions patiently until the door opened once more to reveal Midorima.

Seijūrō introduced Midorima to Shige. Then the three sat down on chairs around Tetsuya’s bed. Midorima then helped Tetsuya to remove his oxygen mask. “I’ve been following my father around the hospital so I’ve been given trainings on such things,” Midorima explained. The others seemed impressed. It was rare to see such a young kid with medical experience everyday.

They chatted until it was nine and a nurse came in to chase them so sleep. Midorima bade them farewell, as he had to go back to his house. Meanwhile, the same nurse prepared two other beds in the same room as Tetsuya’s. Seijūrō had walked to Tetsuya’s bed to cover him with the blanket properly before he went back to sleep.

Before heading back to his own bed, he glanced back at the sleeping form of his younger brother. He knew that there was something terribly wrong with Tetsuya’s system somehow.

* * *

 

Seijūrō and Tetsuya woke up almost at the same time, a usual occurrence since both twins set their alarms to wake them up at seven every morning. Even without an alarm, it was a daily routine to wake up at seven anyway. Shige was still asleep, sprawled on the bed unsightly.

Seijūrō stretched and yawned. He was about to get out of the uncomfortable bed but the door was slammed open. “Tetsuya! Are you alright?” Okā-san yelled. Tetsuya seemed shocked at the sudden intrusion of their two parents but realized that they were supposed to come.

“Yes, Okā-san. I am fine,” Tetsuya replied.

While their parents were fussing over Tetsuya, feeling his forehead temperature and whatnot, Seijūrō interrupted, “Otō-san, Okā-san, the doctor, Midorima-san, wanted to speak with you.” They seemed a little apprehensive but they nodded and left.

Meanwhile, the two boys waited for their friend to wake up. After waiting for an hour with their parents still not back, the twins were getting impatient. Again, just like the day before, Seijūrō jabbed the orange-haired teen in the side.

“OW! SEI! WHAT’S THE DEAL!”

“It’s already eleven. It’s a Saturday today, but still.”

Shige rubbed his side and retorted, “I usually wake up at noon or later since there’s no school.”

Tetsuya replied, “Don’t be such a sleepy head. Our parents just arrived. They went to see the doctor.”

“Fine, fine. Have you guys eaten breakfast?” he asked while yawning. Tetsuya quietly pointed to a tray beside his bed.

Seijūrō frowned and reprimanded, “Hey, Shige, it’s rude to yawn without covering your mouth.” Shige sighed at the properness of the Akashi twins.

The door opened right after Shige had finished glomping down his meal. “Shige?” a woman with shoulder-length orange bangs peeked her head inside.

“MUM! COME IN! HERE LOOK! THESE ARE MY FRIENDS!” Shige’s eyes went comically wide as he signaled towards the twins. With introductions done by the twins and Shige’s parents, they started chatting casually until the twin’s parents walked in.

Their faces looked pale but upon seeing a new couple in the room, they smiled slightly to introduce themselves, seeing the resemblance between them and the currently quite hyperactive teen.

“Good afternoon, Ogiwara-san. Our sons have told us many nice things about Shigehiro. It is my pleasure to meet his parents. I am Akashi Hayato, and this is my wife, Akashi Hitomi,” the male introduced.

There was a slight pause before Akashi Hitomi looked sorry and requested, “We… we have something private to tell our sons. If you coul—”

“Say no more! We’re the ones sorry to intrude! Come on, Shige. We’ll see you later, Akashi-san,” Shige’s father said, knowing that they were going to tell their sons something important. If it was not for them to hear, then they will not pry into their lives.

The door closed soon after.

It was a mini staring contest between the twins who were sitting side by side each other on the bed, and their parents who were standing near the door. The two big curious eyes of twins were silently asking their parents about what was wrong and at the same time hoping for the best news. On the other hand, the two adults were looking downcast, unsure about how they should break the news to the twins.

Sighing, Hitomi broke the silence while moving to sit on another bed. “You know, when I was pregnant with you both, the doctor had originally only thought that we would have one child only, which was you, Seijūrō. But when I went for a check up and they said that I was going to have twins, I was so delighted! I delivered both of you successfully, but the doctors informed me that since Tetsuya’s development was accidental, he was premature and was only supposed to be delivered at around January to February.

“I was devastated. As a premature baby, Tetsuya had always been frail and weak, so I am glad that he has such a protective and responsible older brother. I was later informed that Tetsuya had a disease of sorts. He has Respiratory Distress Syndrome, which is a lung problem in premature babies. He had a severe case when he was young and even developed Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia. We thought that we would lose him, but a miracle happened and his syndromes sort of died down,” their mother smiled slightly more at this point.

Hayato decided to continue the story, “We had thought that Tetsuya may be fortunately cured, but it seems that it may have come back. This was thus the reason I had prevent Tetsuya from overexerting himself. The doctor advised us that Seijūrō be constantly by his side as a repercussion in case any such situations occur.”

It took awhile for the whole chunk of information to be absorbed into their minds. After a moments of silence, however, Seijūrō replied, “Yes, Otō-san. I understand. I will be by Tetsuya’s side constantly. After all, we are brothers forever.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Sei-nii, look at this huge school…” Tetsuya mumbled in disbelief as both he and his Nii-san walked through the gates of Teikō Junior High. “I wish Ogiwara-kun was still here to see this. I wonder which middle school he had enrolled in.”

“Mm,” Seijūrō agreed. “I’m sure he will inform us soon.” It was a sad memory as after Tetsuya was discharged from the hospital for no more than a week, Shige had to bade them farewell, telling them that his father had to work somewhere else, so he had to relocate with him. Of course, as their very first and best friend, they had entrusted Tetsuya’s condition to the orange-haired teen.

It was with no doubt that Shige would enroll into the basketball club of whichever school he went. Needless to say, the twins thought the same. “Sei-nii, I think those girls are ogling at you.”

“As observant as ever, Tetsuya. We shall ignore them. Let’s go find out which class we are in,” Seijūrō replied, slightly annoyed. It was a normal occurance that girls liked their looks, though most only paid attention to the redhead, a fortunate thing for Tetsuya since he did not like the attention. As what Okā-san had said when she was still here, they had ‘devilishly good looks’ for guys their age.

Ignoring the squeals and giggles, they looked at the notice board. As usual, Otō-san had requested for them to be in the same class, which was Class 1-A. They looked down the list, almost immediately memorizing everyone’s name. Akashis were scary like that.

“Midorima-kun entered this school?” Seijūrō inquired, staring at the name not too far down the list of student in his class. Throughout the year, Tetsuya had gone back to the hospital for multiple check-ups. Meanwhile, the redhead and greenhead friends would play a game of shogi while waiting. Thus, the three of them have been very well acquainted with each other and… Midorima’s almost unhealthy obsession with horoscopes, namely Oha-Asa.

Walking past a few students while talking to each other, they had to restrain themselves from rolling their eyes, which was not a suitable action for Akashis. They heard things such as:

“Oh my god, is that devilishly handsome guy there a first year?”

“Why is he talking to himself?”

“Whoaa, I heard he’s an Akashi?”

“No way!”

“I heard he has a brother! I wonder where is he?”

Walking into class, they immediately spotted the green haired boy, whom they have even played basketball with on a few occasions. His three-pointers were no joke at all.

“Midorima-kun,” both twins greeted at the same time. The young doctor jumped a little at that.

“I swear, sometimes both of you have a low presence. Anyway, good morning and glad to be your classmate,” Midorima sighed. Beside him was a picture book.

“What club are you going to join?” Seijūrō asked.

“Do you even have to ask? Nanodayo. The basketball club, of course. It’s not like I love it,” he answered. Such a tsundere. He totally LOVED playing basketball.

“That’s good, Midorima-kun. But what about the other club choice? We can have one main and a second side club,” Tetsuya asked. He had already decided on the Library Club and Seijūrō was undoubtedly going to join the Shogi Club. Both liked books and shogi, but the bluenette was just more inclined to the literature side while his brother preferred mind sports.

“I will think about that,” the greenhead replied.

Shrugging, the two went to find seats that were either beside each other or in front and behind each other. They managed to find two adjacent seats at the back, letting Tetsuya get the one nearest to the window.

Before class could start, Seijūrō had many documents sprawled out on his table, courtesy of Otō-san, who insisted that Seijūrō be the one to inherit the company in the future and thus loaded him with many documents such as these. Seeing his brother sigh continuously as he skimmed through the pages, writing a few things here and there, Tetsuya walked over.

Like what they always did when doing homework, Seijūrō scooted a little to the left, letting Tetsuya share the seat with him. “Sei-nii, do you need help?”

“No, you should not stress yourself. It will be fine even if I do it alone.”

Tetsuya shook his head at his brother’s persistence and stubbornness. “Here, let me take a look. Otō-san did not say that only one person had to take over the company. We could do it together.” Of course, Tetsuya also knew what to do with the documents and whatnot, always attending the classes that Seijūrō had.

Giving a slight smile that only his brother would receive, Seijūrō thanked him. He was lucky that he had someone in his life whom he could share his troubles with ever since… Okā-san had passed away. It happened when they were in their fifth year of elementary school. “Otō-san said I should be done with these by today,” Seijūrō reminded. With two extraordinary brains working on these documents, they were done with extra time to spare even before the bell rang.

The homeroom teacher walked in and greeted everyone, in which everyone also had greeted back. Then they did personal introductions by register number. The twins had to introduce themselves first, since apparently their names started with ‘A’ and no one else was before ‘Aka’. Thus, they walked up together, hand in hand, most people not even realizing that the second twin was there.

“Good morning everyone and nice to make your acquaintance. I am Akashi Seijūrō,” the redhead introduced first.

“And I am Akashi Tetsuya,” an invisible bluenette spoke up, surprising everyone, including the teacher but excluding Midorima.

“Nice to meet you, and we hope that you will take care of us,” Seijūrō said, almost going to go back to his seat. However, some students rose their hands and the teacher asked them to speak.

“Are you both from the same family?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, we are twins,” the redhead replied, knowing all too well that his younger brother did not like talking much. Other than to him, that is.

“Why did we not notice Tetsuya-san?”

“He had a weak presence, that’s all.”

There were some more questions but after a while, the two managed to go back to their seat. Both twins barely listened to the introductions, only recognizing their faces and putting their name to it. Midorima’s introduction was the weirdest by far, announcing that he was a Cancer and he is compatible with whatever star signs he was blabbering about. Everyone just stared at him weirdly.

After that, they did some other miscellaneous stuff before their teacher announced that they would have to choose their clubs by the end of the week, including whatever auditions needed. They then headed down to the main hall for an orientation programme.

There were speeches by the principal first, telling everyone that the school’s motto was ‘Ever Victorious’, though Tetsuya disagreed greatly. Even though it was a rude gesture, Tetsuya still got Seijūrō’s attention and said, “Sei-nii, it’s not true that winning is everything, is it? Just having fun is enough.”

His brother pondered for a while. “Yes, that is true, but we have to have this mindset at times. It’s good to strive for the best,” he replied. Next were speeches by the many different and prestigious clubs of the school.

After that whole long and boring chunk of speeches, the twins gathered that the Library Club had shifts during lunch and recesses, so it would not clash with their basketball activities which were on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They had club day on Tuesday though. The Shogi Club had activities on Thursday.

Lastly, they noted that the Basketball Club was very hard to get into, as there were three strings of players. Apparently, there was never any year ones who had made it past the second string into their first string in their first year. Their captain was Nijimura Shūzō and they even had two captains.

Since the sports and performing arts clubs needed more members, they could have their auditions for the second and third days on the week, while the others had them on the remaining two days.

After absorbing the whole load of information, the twins could finally walk back to their house, after insisting with their parents that as teenagers, they should walk home by themselves.

“Do you want to prepare for the audition tomorrow?” Seijūrō asked as they walked home.

“But no matter how much I try I’m still the same as always. I’d be lucky to even be in the third string,” Tetsuya mumbled.

“No way in hell am I going to join if you don’t. Let’s just hope that we both end up in the same group for auditioning, then we can show them what we can do as a duo,” Seijūrō reassured. “Anyway, do you even need to audition for the Library Club?” Tetsuya nodded.

“Maybe we are supposed to memorise the places of the books and shelves.”

“Can’t we already do that in a few seconds,” Seijūrō sighed. Akashi genes were just geniuses. Both twins had realised that they possessed photographic memory, a very convenient skill for all things related to words or pictures. That was another reason why both of them scored top marks, and if they ever had a mistake, it would be the same between both of them. Their teachers had even though both of them cheated in tests, but after a certain experiment, they did not.

The experiment? Well, when Tetsuya had to go for another check-up during school time, it just so happened that they missed a test. After some discussion, the teachers told them to stay back and ended up situating them on the far ends of the classroom. That was a language exam and they only had one mistake, which was a slightly weird phrasing of a sentence. Both wrote exactly same answers and in the exact same phrasing. Even their handwritings were almost the same.

Twins. Just so much fun.

As they opened the door to their gigantic mansion, they both yelled ‘I’m home’ at the same time. They were greeted by Otō-san in the living room. “Ah, how were your days today?” he asked, looking up from his laptop.

“Nothing much other than a whole bunch of speeches. Midorima-kun is in our class, by the way,” Seijūrō replied while removing his shoes.

Their father let out a ‘hmm’ sound and said, “That’s good to hear. Will he be coming over again? He’s a sweet boy.” The twins almost chuckled at that. “Have you finished with the documents, Seijūrō?”

The redhead nodded and handed the stack to his father. “Father, maybe next time Sei-nii and I can work together, then it wont strain Sei-nii too much,” Tetsuya suggested.

“Will it be too stressful for you?”

“No. You should ask Sei-nii that.”

Their father pondered the idea for a while before shrugging, also a sign that they could return to their rooms and agreeing to the idea. “Boys, don't forget your classes later!” Otō-san yelled up the stairs at the retreating backs.

“Okay!” they answered.

When they entered their room, Seijūrō turned to his brother, “Hey, thanks for just now.” Tetsuya raised an eyebrow. “About wanting to help me with work.” Tetsuya shook his head and smiled. “What classes do we have later?”

“Uhm. I know we have horse riding later. That would be our last time in a while since there’s going to be basketball practices on Mondays, right?” Seijūrō nodded sadly. Both of them loved horse riding, but Seijūrō especially, since he was more physically fit than the younger of the two.

“Do we have any music classes today? I remembered there’s one.”

“Violin? I though we still had another week’s break. I don’t think it’s piano since we just finished the exam last week and Otō-san promised that we would have a break,” Tetsuya said. “I think we have politics classes later too.”

Sighing, Seijūrō plonked down on his own bed. Living as an Akashi was fortunate but stressful and expecting. Without even glancing at the bluenette, Tetsuya had also sat down on Seijūrō’s bed, snuggling up to his older brother. “We should get up soon,” Seijūrō warned.

“Mm, not yet. We don’t have homework today and you’ve already finished that stack of documents. Let’s lie down for a while…” Tetsuya mumbled into the sheets. Even though both had their own beds, they preferred to sleep together since they could never sleep well when the other was not right beside them. Thus, it became an everyday routine of going to either bed to sleep.

Even if no one else could understand their minds, they knew that there was at least this one soul who would understand him completely. Knowing this, they smiled unknowingly before having a little relaxation time together, enjoying each other’s warmth.


	4. Chapter 4

The second and third-string coach, Sanada, announced the respective audition groups. Unfortunately, Seijūrō was not in Tetsuya’s group. “Tetsuya, will you be alright?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Tetsuya answered as they split off into their respective groups. His group was one of the later ones while Seijūrō’s group was first. Everyone then sat at the benches to watch the different auditions.

Cheers were heard from the benches when a few of the audition groups played, mainly Seijūrō’s, Midorima’s, a blue-haired ganguro’s, a purple-haired giant’s and a gray-haired punk’s. Meanwhile, Tetsuya’s audition group was quite a disaster.

Firstly, his teammates all ‘sucked’ compared to Seijūrō, whom Tetsuya was used to playing with. Secondly, they passed him the ball but all of them were marked, causing Tetsuya to be unable to pass the ball to any of them. Thirdly, they had no idea how to use his abilities to the maximum.

Since he could not pass to anyone and he was not good at dribbling or shooting, the opponent third-stringers could always steal the ball from him. Thus, they subsequently did not want to pass him the ball anymore even if he was unmarked by anyone.

Sighing, he knew he would never get into the higher strings unlike his brother. “Sei-nii… I don’t think I’ll even get into third-string,” Tetsuya told his brother dejectedly.

Seijūrō passed a towel to him. “If you are not going to be in the same string as I am, I’ll degrade to whichever string you are in. If you do not make it, I’ll quit,” Seijūrō assured.

“No! You can’t do that! Otō-san wants you to be the best, doesn’t he? You can’t just give up like that!”

“I can, if it’s for you. Remember what I promised? We’d always be together forever.” Tetsuya mutely nodded at that.

By the end of the day, the coach announced the results. Since no one had ever made it to the first-string in their first year, the whole group of year ones was about to leave when Sanada announced who had made it to the first string. The ganguro, Aomine Daiki, the giant, Murasakibara Atsushi, the punk, Haizaki Shōgo, Midorima and lastly, Seijūrō, got accepted into the first-string. Fortunately, Tetsuya was at least in the third-string.

Tetsuya glanced at his brother, who was frowning in disapproval. However, before he could tell his brother that it was alright, Seijūrō had already spoken up. “I’m not going to the first-string. I’m staying with my brother,” Seijūrō insisted angrily, earning gasps from the group, as it was already a rare opportunity to get into the first-string. He had already expected that this would happen, though. “I will only join the first-string if you will give us one more chance. Here’s the deal: Two of us, versus a group of five.”

More gasps, even those from the other string members. “Akashi-san, even if you are very skilled, your brother is not so skilled. You can’t possibly win a group of five even if they are from the third-string.”

“Oh, really? It’s more like only I know how to utilize Tetsuya’s ability. Let me show it to you right now. Two-on-five. If we lose, we will quit this club. If we win, we both get to be in the first-string,” Seijūrō proposed.

The captain, Nijimura, seemed amused, like the twins were telling a joke. However, a voice piped up from behind the whole group. “Shirogane-kantoku!” the senior members all greeted.

“Ah, I was just watching the auds when I heard a ruckus,” the white-haired coach explained. “So, you both want a match? Alright. Third-stringers, go get a team of five. The first team to ten points wins.” The seniors all stared at their head coach like he grew another head.

Even though it was already past the audition timings, almost everyone stayed back to watch the match. The tip off ensured and as per expected because the twins were ‘short’, the third-string center caught the ball, whacking it to their point guard.

But the ball never touched his hands. “Wha—”

The ball was immediately passed into Seijūrō’s hands as he made a fast break to his side of the half court. Little did they know, the ‘miracle’ pass was by Tetsuya. They were using half courts for the auditions, as most year ones did not have the stamina. Well, this just improved the odds for the twins, since they knew that Tetsuya could not play for very long. Before the others could catch up, he did a lay up and the ball got in. Eight more points to go.

The point guard on the other team took the ball and planned for a fast break. However, Tetsuya did a back tip the moment the PG passed him, not like he noticed him anyway. Seijūrō caught the ball from him in front and turned back to his side of the court.

This time, the other team was faster as they did a box defense to prevent Seijūrō from passing. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Tetsuya to his right. Without even needing to look, he did a perfect pass to him while he ran in, catching the ball again a moment later. He did a fade away as a player tried to block him. Fortunately, that player was too near as he was fouled. A free throw was given to Seijūrō. The shot went in, of course.

Five more points.

The other team did a far pass to their court which one of them caught. It was inevitable that they scored a three-pointer as the twins were not near enough to their side of the court to steal it.

The pair was now marked man-to-man. Well, it was at least two to one, though Seijūrō had three marking him. Using his most important ability, Tetsuya lowered his presence further as he ran past his marks to catch the ball that Seijūrō threw over. He immediately passed it back as Seijūrō’s marks turned their heads to stare at where the ball went.

With this back and forth pass, they made it to their side and Seijūrō scored once again. The other team scored another two points since the pair could not run back as fast.

Seijūrō started with the ball again as he drove past his marks. The moment he reached the three-pointer line, the other team formed a box defense. He had to give them some praise, as they knew what form of defense to use at different situations on court.

However, they made a big miscalculation. He stopped dribbling the ball. Before anyone could block him further, he jumped and shot a three-pointer, finally allowing Tetsuya and him to reach ten points. At that moment, the whole gymnasium was silent.

Then started the murmurs of everyone. “Did two of them just beat five?” “Wait, how were those weird passes made?” “How…?”

The captain and coaches saw what happened. Indeed, Tetsuya would be an excellent trump card. The two looked at the shocked faces of everyone, then looked towards the other. Smiles broke out on their faces as they fist bumped with each other. “We did it,” Seijūrō whispered. As the two walked back to the benches, they were flocked by the others, being asked random questions.

Sanada cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “Alright. With this match coming to an end, Akashi Seijūrō and Akashi Tetsuya will be in the first string. Congratulations.” By his tone, it was unsaid that if Tetsuya was a burden, he would be degraded, but Seijūrō would follow too. Even so, everyone applauded. It was not everyday you would see such an amazing play between two people.

Tetsuya smiled. It looks like they could be together again. Truth be told, he was actually afraid to be separated from his twin, since the redhead was constantly by his side. They could continue their promise of playing against Shige, all thanks to his brother. He leaned towards Seijūrō and whispered, “Sei-nii, thank you.”

Aomine had suggested that they all go to the convenience stall to get a treat. Thus, Murasakibara, Midorima, Seijūrō and Tetsuya were invited. Seeing that Haizaki was alone, Tetsuya had invited him along, earning frowns from some others.

“He made it to the first string with us. And he’s lonely,” Tetsuya reasoned as they all walked as a group. Aomine’s childhood friend, Momoi Satsuki, had followed along too. Haizaki was lurking a little behind, quite embarrassed by being invited along by the bluenette. Haizaki wanted to thank him but he never thanked people so he decided that he would just thank him subtly by actions then, as embarrassing as it was.

Reaching the convenience stall, Aomine immediately suggested that they get Gari Gari-kun soda popsicles. Tetsuya and Seijūrō shared a popsicle and saw some words on the ice cream stick when they were done.

“What do you want to do with it, Tetsuya?” Seijūrō asked.

“We don’t need the prize. Why don’t we give it to someone else?”

“That Miss over there?” Seijūrō asked, referring to their pink-haired acquaintance. Tetsuya nodded. Momoi, on the other hand, was staring at the whole group of boys longingly, knowing that she did not fit in to the group. Just then, the twins of the group walked up to her. “Miss, we do not need this anymore. You may have it,” the one with red hair said, passing her an ice cream stick.

She stared at the piece of rubbish. They were so rude! Giving her a piece of rubbish to throw away. Huffing, she flipped the stick over, seeing the words imprinted there. “… A prize?!” Momoi whispered. At that moment, she stared at the retreating backs of the twins and she felt two arrows pierce her heart. It was love at first action, if that was even legit. “Thank you! I will surely keep it!” she yelled after them.

Aomine turned his head to her and saw the words. “Oi, Tetsu, Sei, why’d you give that to her? It’s a prize! And Satsuki! Don’t keep it or it’ll have no use!” he yelled.

The brothers turned back and tilted their heads. “We don’t need the prize.”

Momoi answered, “But they gave that to me! Plus, they are much more gentlemanly than you would ever be, Dai-chan!”

Thus, going to the convenience stall became an everyday occurrence after their practices, which started on their second week of school. Momoi had even become the manager. All seven of them also ate lunch together on the rooftop each day. Haizaki always stole the others’ food, all except the twins, as it was thanks to them that he had company, though he was still the punk that he was.

Everyday after practice, they would all stay back in the third gym to practice together, mostly because their ace, Aomine, their phantom, Tetsuya, and their most-likely-to-be-in-the-future captain always stayed.

These year ones won all their games and by the end of the year, they were dubbed the ‘Generation of Miracles’. Their everyday life only consisted of the seven of them solely, until a certain blonde decided to join the club in year two.

“Ah sorry! Thanks for picking up the ball!” the ganguro yelled as he chased after the basketball that he had threw too hard. The blonde model glanced behind, irritated that someone had messed up his beautiful hair.

“Uhm, sure,” Kise Ryōta said as he passed the ball to him. Basketball was the only club that he had not checked out. Sports were too easy for him after all. At least it was better than loitering around the school grounds. He then silently trailed the ganguro back to the gymnasium.

He stood at the entrance, stunned by the plays made by the team of colourful-haired players after watching their match. The red-haired player who was wearing the number four jersey, immediate and accurate passes. The giant, the most powerful and unbreakable defense. The bespectacled one, being able to shoot from any distance. The ashen-haired punk, stealing his opponent’s moves, similar to Kise’s own ability. A phantom player, who executed amazing and impossible passes.

And the ganguro… He was playing to freely, shooting from any angle he wanted. Kise wanted to do that. He wanted to play just like that. A pinkette walked over. “Ah, Kise-kun! What do you need help with?” Momoi asked. It was no surprise that most people knew his name. In fact, he was surprised that the ganguro did not know his name.

“Ah… I’m not sure if this is too late to ask but… Could I join the basketball club?”


	5. Chapter 5

“I am Akashi Seijūrō, captain of the basketball team,” the redhead introduced. “Since you are a new member, one of the senior members will be your instructor of sorts. You instructor will be my brother, Tetsuya.”

Kise had remembered what the captain said. The captain seemed like a strong opponent, but staring down at his twin brother made Kise irritated. Yes, he had heard rumors about Akashi Tetsuya being the phantom player of the basketball team and was apparently in the first string from the start, but he just looked so weak!

“Hello,” the bluenette greeted.

Kise scratched the back of his neck as he greeted back too. Tetsuya had introduced him to the second and third string coaches, some of the other seniors, his duties as a new member and their training regiments. However, all the while, Kise had been whining in his head as to why he did not get the ganguro as his teacher.

At the end of the day, Kise suddenly wailed, “Why didn’t I get Aominecchi to be my instructor?!” Everyone stopped to stare at the loudmouth yellow-haired newbie.

“Hah? That’s ‘cause I have more important trainings! And what’s with that weird nickname?” Aomine asked. Kise continued wailing.

The blonde suddenly felt a deathly like aura and hesitated to turn behind to look at the source. He did turn behind in the end, though. His captain gave him a too innocent-looking smile. Furthermore, he was twirling a scissors in his right hand.

“Just so you know, you will do well not to underestimate Tetsuya. One more complaint I hear from you, I’ll send this piece of stationary flying towards you, you hear me, Kise-kun?” he threatened.

“Kise-kun, just so you know Sei-nii and I have been to dart throwing classes and we were always top ten in Japan,” Tetsuya continued. It was unsaid that the scissors could fly through his head even with a full court’s length between them. Everyone shuddered at the twin’s demonic side, which was rarely shown.

“H-hai,” Kise trembled.

Kise frowned day after day. In the first week, he was already promoted to the second string. They shared the courts with the first string, so he would glance at where the others usually played occasionally. There was even this one time where Tetsuya’s team members passed him the ball and he was wide open to shoot, but the ball totally missed the hoop. Kise had dunked the ball on his side of the court to subtly prove a point. Killer intent leaked from the other court and he knew to stop there before something sharp came whizzing past him.

Just then, Midorima, the green-haired shooting guard, came over when he was resting. “Kise, you, Tetsuya and Seijūrō will be in a practice game tomorrow. Immediately report to the main gate tomorrow after class,” Midorima instructed. Kise sighed and nodded.

The next day, Kise quickly headed to the main gate while avoiding as many students as possible as he did not want to be late because of fangirls or his captain would eat him up. Their practice match was with the second strings against another school.

The match started with Seijūrō warning them that if the second string were to lose, they would be demoted to third string immediately. The two first stringers, Kise and their manager, Momoi, sat at the bench to watch. The coaches had deemed it enough that Seijūrō was there to watch and did not come along.

The opponent team was quite strong, though Kise reckoned that he could beat them easily. After the first quarter of Teikō falling behind slightly, Seijūrō subbed Kise in.

Immediately, two players came to mark him, causing Kise to be unable to move around to catch the ball. This was harder than he expected and Kise knew it was wrong to underestimate them. By the end of the second quarter, Kise had a rough time on court and Teikō barely caught up, though they were now only two points behind.

“Tetsuya, we’re in next. Kise-kun, you are subbed out,” Seijūrō instructed. Kise ‘e-eeeeeeh’ed at the captain but he gave him a glare to silence him. Kise gulped.

The whistle blew to instruct both teams on the court again. Kise decided to pay attention to this match, wondering what his personal instructor could do. Many people said that the twins were a deadly pair on court, but it was just impossible for Kise to imagine. Plus, every time he begged Tetsuya for a one-on-one, the other would refuse and said that he would lose immediately. What kind of first stringer would not beat a second stringer in a one-on-one?

Kise stared at the captain who started with the ball. “Whoah…” he muttered as the ball was sent to another player without the captain even needing to make eye contact with him. Teikō scored two more points, making the scores even. The other team knew to mark the number four closely.

The point guard of the other team started and passed to another member, but the ball never touched his hand. Instead, the ball swerved in the direction of Seijūrō and the redhead caught it with ease. Kise heard the other members gasp in shock.

Focusing on the court more to see how that steal was made, Kise could make out a mop of teal blue hair. “Did Akashi-san just do that?!” Kise whispered quite loudly. Hearing that Momoi, nodded and confirmed it.

“Tetsu-kun doesn’t seem like the strong type but if he’s together with Sei-kun they are just so coooooooool! And not to mention, totally cute!” Momoi exclaimed, having visible hearts in her eyes, swaying with her hands on her cheeks and almost banging into the bench.

Kise sweat-dropped. It was obvious the manager had a crush on those two and as they said, ‘love blinds you’. Quite literally in this case. Kise continued to stare at the court and his respect for the twins grew.

With them on the court, Teikō now had a fifteen-point difference and everyone could only stare in awe at the point board. As Seijūrō walked back to the bench, he instructed, “Kise, you’re in for the whole second half. Tetsuya, you will only come back in during the fourth qua—”

He could not even finish his sentence when a muscular arm grabbed him and Tetsuya. “Whaaaaaa! Seijūrōcchi and Tetsuyacchi are so cool! Hey, hey, I can call you both that right? Because you both are Akashi-sans and I can’t differentiate!” Kise bombarded the two while strangling them, though the blonde was oblivious.

“Ki-Kise-kun,” Tetsuya rasped, “C-can’t breeeathe!”

Kise stared at the bluing faces of the two before having a shock and releasing them. “You training is doubled, Kise-kun,” Seijūrō informed. Kise knelt down and clutched the redhead’s shirt and begged him not to. The twins could see an imaginary dog tail emerging behind Kise, wagging about furiously.

“Sit,” Tetsuya instructed. Immediately, Kise sat down, butt first, on the ground. “Good doggie.” He patted Kise’s head and the blonde had sparkles around him. Tetsuya looked at Seijūrō and both sighed at the same time.

With having three strong opponents in the fourth quarter together, Teikō miraculously won by doubling the opponent’s points. On the way back from Teikō was hell for the twins. The blonde model/dog was basically yapping at their heels, unable to stop fawning over them and talking to them. The twins now dubbed him the ‘Dog’.

* * *

 

Kise sighed as he just finished another one of his photo shoots as a model. “Ah, Ryōta-kun! About your next photo shoot, it will be next Sunday, is that alright with you?” his manager asked.

Kise tilted his head and nodded. He was usually free on weekends since his parents did not find the need for him to be in any extra classes. He could keep up with his studies, after all. “Great!” she yelled. “Oh that reminds me, for our next photo shoot, the magazine who is working with us wanted something with three models, so we need two more models. Do you have any modeling friends?” she asked, hopeful. After all, it was hard work scouting for models.

“Hah?” Kise thought again.

“Any… devilishly handsome boys?”

That rang a bell in his head. “Ah, I have two in mind, though they don’t have any modeling experiences, I think. I’m sure they would be fine, though! I’ll try to ask them!” Kise said.

“Ryōta-kun, you’re the best!”

That night, Kise called the twins.

.

The twins were just finished with their politics class when Tetsuya’s phone rang.

“Is it who I think it is?” Seijūrō asked as he picked up both his and Tetsuya’s books, placing them neatly in the bookshelf as Tetsuya went to pick up his phone.

Tetsuya glanced down at the screen and looked up again. “The Dog is calling. Should I pick up or not?”

Seijūrō shrugged, leaving it up to the younger twin to decide. Sighing, the bluenette picked up as it was rude not to. Before he could even greet, a loud voice blasted through the phone, even though it was not on speaker.

“TETSUYACCHI! SEIJŪRŌCCHI! EMERGENCYYYYYYYYYY!” the Dog yelled.

“Kise-kun, what happened?” Tetsuya asked as he put the phone on speaker but lowering the volume slightly.

Kise then explained the whole situation and begged the two to be their one-time models. Both could literally see him on his knees begging them. “Sei-nii, what classes do we have on weekends?”

“Quite some, though. Let’s ask Otō-san first.”

“DID YOU BOTH AGREE? YAY! I WILL EVEN PERSONALLY TRAIN BOTH OF YOU THE SATURDAY BEFORE!” Kise yelled.

“No, we have not decided, since we have to get consent from our father. We will text you later,” Tetsuya replied.

Both were starting to get tick marks on their head as they finished packing up their items and sending their teacher to the door, then heading to the dining room for supper. Every five minutes, they would get messages from the Dog, alternating between the two’s phones. They were so irritated they had just switched the phones off.

At supper, the two brought up the situation and asked their father if they could help their friend do the modeling work for this time only. Their father thought for a while before asking, “Do you both want to do it?” They both nodded. “Fine then. I will reschedule your classes.”

Back in the room, they texted the blonde only to get called again and have his loud voice booming across the line saying thank you. They had cut him off immediately.

* * *

 

Saturday came by quickly and the twins arrived at a tall building somewhere in Tokyo, the address the model had given them. Sighing, they told the receptionist why they had came and she let them up, telling them to go to the tenth floor.

They should have expected this. When the doors opened, they were glomped by the model and was being strangled to death once again. “Ki-Kise-kun!”

“Oh sorry! Now here, here! I’ll introduce you to my manager and we can try out the clothes for tomorrow and show you some tips! And I’ll show you around the building and you know the cafeteria here is—”

“Enough. Let’s get this over and done with.”

The moment they walked into the door, thinner arms glomped them again. “Whaaaa! Ryōta-kun brought cuties here today! You both are so handsome! You’d make great models! What’re your names?” a brown-haired bubbly manager asked.

“Akashi Seijūrō. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m Akashi Tetsuya.”

The brunette’s eyes glowed in fascination. “You both are so respectful, handsome, perfect, AHHHH! This is too good!” Both boys were devilishly handsome and any woman would fall for them. “LET’S START NOW!”

.

A week later, Seijūrō and Tetsuya found that they could barely move an inch with the hoard of students surrounding them. Don’t mention girls, even boys were surrounding them. The twins stared at the magazines that were being held up by the students who were trying to grab their attention. The front cover was of the three of them wearing black suits with a fedora each. For that shot, they were told to act seductive and Tetsuya almost refused. It was one of those times that Seijūrō had to bribe him for him to comply. With vanilla milkshakes, that was.

In the magazine, they featured the three boys wearing all sorts of clothing, from suits, to hoodies, to kimonos, even to imperial clothes! Photogenic was an understatement. Kise’s manager had even called them multiple times to ask them to be professional models. In that aspect, both Kise and his manager were alike.

Even with only a day’s training, the twins looked marvelous. Sighing, the twins could only stand there, reluctantly giving autographs or they knew that they would be late for class.


	6. Chapter 6

The door opened only for the two twins to be glomped on the floor by three pairs of muscular arms. It was fortunate none of them tumbled down the stairs. The two slowly pried open their eyes only to see the familiar fair colours of blue, yellow and gray. Tetsuya glanced at his brother, already knowing what would happen.

Dark aura surrounded the redhead as he growled, “Aomine-kun, Kise-kun, Haizaki-kun, if three of you don’t get off Tetsuya and me soon, I will personally use a penknife to slice of your limbs so you three will never be able to hug us again.” Tetsuya fought a sigh at his brother’s sadistic nature.

The three quickly rushed off the twins and instead kneeled on the floor.

“Seijūrō-sama, Tetsuya-sama, please teach us!” they yelled in unison.

They had already predicted this would happen. In the last practice, the coach had told them that they had a training camp coming up that no one is allowed to miss. However, those who failed any single subject had supplementary classes during that time, so the coach told them whoever who did not make it to the camp would be kicked out of the basketball club.

Both twins let out a sigh together, sitting down against the wall. They were supposed to have a peaceful lunch on the roof once again... However, as captain, it was Seijūrō’s duty to take care of his teammates.

“Did you guys bring all your papers? We’ll have to see your marks,” Seijūrō sighed. The three nodded and practically flung the stack of papers in the twin’s faces. An angry tick mark formed on the captain’s head and the beggars were on the ground again begging for mercy.

Tetsuya gathered up the papers and looked through them, then totally froze when they saw their marks. Sensing that there was a problem, Seijūrō glanced at his younger twin, only to see his wide eyes. He just hoped it was not what it seemed. He looked at the scores and immediately, another bigger tick mark formed.

“How. In. The. World. Do. You. Fail. EVERY. SINGLE. PAPER?!” Seijūrō all but yelled in their face, then sighed and covered his face with his hands. “Midorima-kun, Murasakibara-kun, do you guys need help with studying too?” he hopefully asked.

The other two who were eating their lunches shook their heads, allowing the two to sigh in relief.

“Sei-nii, will it even be possible to help them? They seem so stupid that nothing will help them,” Tetsuya asked.

“So mean!”

“Tetsu!”

“Oi!”

Seijūrō shrugged. “Fine. Come over on Saturday. We will only help you then. Midorima-kun, Murasakibara-kun, Momoi-san, all three of you are invited to come, of course.” Meanwhile, the three’s face lighted up at the prospect of being able to stay in the basketball club.

* * *

 

“Oi, tsundere, are you sure this is the right path?” Haizaki asked the green-head who was staring at some signboards. They had entered a street which was practically full of large mansions. It was not that far from Teikō, but it was still quite unusual to see the rich district of houses.

“Oh course I’m sure. I’ve been to their house before,” the shooter replied as he pushed up his spectacles while gripping onto a spray bottle.

They walked down the street for a while more before they came to a signboard that said it was the Akashi mansion.

“Oh. My. Goodness! I’d be so nice to live in a house with them~ Don’t you think, Dai-chan?” Momoi sparkled, hearts already in her eyes.

“I DON’T SWING THAT WAY!” Aomine yelled while Momoi tilted her head, not even knowing what she said had other meanings.

Midorima walked over to the intercom before introducing himself and saying that the two younger Akashis had invited them over. The tall metal gate opened slowly for them to walk in. They were immediately greeted with the sight of a circular driveway with a large water fountain in the center, donned with intricately carved statues. There were shrubs of all kinds around the front of the house and the house was just... HUGE. It looked five-stories high!

Everyone save Midorima who had been to the house before stared in awe at the one-in-a-lifetime-opportunity to enter a mansion.

“This way please,” a butler who was standing near the entrance bowed and signalled for them to walk in.

 _“THEY HAVE BUTLERS?! THOSE LUCKY BRATS”_ almost everyone thought.

“Seijūrō-sama and Tetsuya-sama will be down shortly. Please wait in the living room for their arrival,” the butler said once again, bringing them to an extravagant living room. Everything was just... wow.

Everyone turned towards the stairs when they heard footsteps walking down. The twins were wearing similar suits and everyone was staring at them questionably. Tetsuya stared down at his suit before brushing off imaginary creases before saying, “It’s quite alright. We were just going to prepare for a recital tomorrow. Otō-san allowed you guys to come, provided we do not miss any classes. Here, follow us. We’ll bring you to the library.”

They silently followed the twins, gaping at their surroundings. When they entered the library, they were shocked once again. The library was two stories high, each shelf full of books. “All of you can research here. While we are attending classes, Midorima-kun and Momoi-san, could you both supervise the teaching of these three?” Seijūrō asked. Murasakibara would be too lazy to even teach. Momoi immediately nodded while Midorima huffed.

“We have to go for half an hour now. We’ll be back later,” Tetsuya said as the two stalked off to their music room.

After twenty minutes of studying, the three ‘dumbasses’, as the others had called them, felt like their heads were about to implode with the massive amount of information stuffed into their minds.

“If you guys paid attention in class everyday, this wouldn’t have happened!” Momoi scolded, hands on her hips.

“Ehhh, could you pause for a while? I need to go to the toilet,” Haizaki apologised as he stood up to leave the library. Then realised the house was so big that he did not know where the bathroom was. “SHIT!” he meant that literally.

Haizaki started spinning in circles wildly at the prospect of... aheming in his pants.

“Haizaki-kun, if you need to use the bathroom, it’s right behind you,” a deadpanned voice sounded.

“AH! TETSU YOU ARE GONNA MAKE ME PISS MY PANTS BY SCARING ME LIKE THAT!” Haizaki yelled as he rushed into the bathroom.

The twins sighed as they walked back into the library holding onto their violins. “Are you guys done with revision for at least one subject?” Seijūrō asked tiredly.

“These idiots! Ahomine, Kisama and Hentaizaki are too stupid!” Momoi fumed.

This was going to be a long day.

* * *

 

The day came when all results were passed back to the students. Seijūrō and Tetsuya were earlier than the others this time as they sat on the roof. As usual, they both got perfect straight ‘A’s, all subjects attaining full marks. They just had to wait for the three dumbasses to appear. They had utmost confidence the others would pass.

Midorima came up next, getting ‘A’s too. Momoi was the same. Murasakibara’s were average, though he did pass. The came the three stumbling over each other. Seijūrō covered half his face with his hands again.

“WE PASSED!” all three of them shouted gleefully. Then they started to dance around the place, amazed that for once, they passed the test. At least they could make it to the camp.

* * *

 

The camp would last for three days and two nights, so of course they would have to draw lots as to who shared a room with who. Needless to say, Momoi, not being a guy, took a different room. That left seven boys out of the whole group, so Tetsuya and Seijūrō opted to share a bed, earning gawks from the others.

“It’s alright. We do that every night too,” Tetsuya assured.

Haizaki and Aomine, the two perverts, immediately tried not to choke on their saliva. The lots were drawn, Kise and Aomine in a room (pray that they do not wreck the whole room), Midorima and Murasakibara in another, and the remaining three together.

The camp would be held in Sukishima, where they were going to train their stamina.

On the first day, they ran on the beach non-stop for hours until all of them could no longer run. They also played many games of basketball. As tiring as it was, it paid off to see the sunset in the evening, the gleaming ocean reflecting off the sunrays.

By the time they could get into bed, it was around ten. Haizaki let the twins bathe first, but when he came out of the shower, he did NOT expect to see them already in bed. On the same bed. Facing each other. Foreheads touching. The very image of innocence on their face. Hugging each other, or so he suspected.

Haizaki had to resist the urge to nosebleed from the cuteness, but it was all in vain. Grabbing tissues, he called the others over, including Momoi. “ALL OF YOU HAVE TO COME QUICK!” Haizaki yelled softly into the phone. Everyone thought it was some kind of emergency, but when they barged through the door, they all stopped in their tracks.

“KAWAII~” Kise whispered, not even controlling his nosebleed.

“... Cute,” Aomine muttered and immediately pinched his nose.

The piece of snack dropped out of Murasakibara’s mouth.

Midorima blushed at the sight.

Momoi promptly fainted.

Without second thoughts, Kise whipped out his phone and took many pictures of the twins. The others also asked Kise to send them the pictures later. For now, the others had to rush out for fear of their captain murdering them. Aomine, being the childhood friend he was, dragged Momoi back to her room.

Throughout the night, Haizaki just could not sleep. Neither could the others, in fact, after seeing the cute faces of the twins. They were even texting late into the night, Kise practically spamming them with the number of photos he had took.

The next day, Haizaki woke to a note on the twins’ bed, saying that they had gone off for breakfast. He went down after brushing his teeth and washing up, only to see the whole dining hall pointing at the captain and younger brother, laughing non-stop.

Wondering why the others DARED to even laugh at the redhead, he glanced at them, only to start bursting out in laughter too. BOTH OF THEM HAD THE SAME BED HEADS.

“Mm, I don’t know how we have them every morning, but we don’t even move much,” Tetsuya mumbled. Meanwhile, Seijūrō glared at everyone, immediately silencing them.

“Let’s go fix our hair first,” Seijūrō grumbled as he dragged the younger brother back to their room.

When the twins were gone, Haizaki walked to the table all the Generation of Miracles were sitting at. “HAHAHAHA I’VE GOT PICTURES OF THEM AGAIN!” Kise yelled triumphantly. Everyone’s eyes sparkled again and immediately asked Kise for the pictures. They received another barrage of pictures and all of them scrolled through to see.

The males immediately had nosebleeds, save Midorima who just blushed a deep shade of red. Momoi, on the other hand, fainted once again, earning gasps from the table and from other tables too.

“Kise-kun. What is that I see in your phone screen?” an almost sickening sweet voice asked from behind the blonde. Apparently, Kise had put the picture of the twins last night as his phone’s wallpaper. Kise switched it off with lightning fast speed and turned around slowly to see the death glares from the two twins.

“N-nothing! Right g-guys?” Kise stammered. The others facepalmed themselves. Kise was too obvious! They hoped that their captain would not kill them. Scrap that. They would be lucky enough to survive. They shivered at the killers intent that seeped out from both of them, whoever said that Tetsuya was docile.

“All of you will have your training menus quadrupled today.”

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

“We’re leaving in ten minutes. Whoever who is late at the meeting point shall swim the number of minutes late multiplied by our training today. Be late for five minutes and your training will be quintupled. Go change,” Seijūrō ordered the whole hoard of Teikō basketball club members after their breakfast. Everyone immediately scurried off to change into their swimsuits so as to not waste any time delaying.

The twins headed back to their shared room with Haizaki and all three changed quickly. They headed to their meeting point, which was a signpost at the beach. That day of the camp, they were going to spend the whole day in the water, basically increasing their stamina by making them swim to each of the three islands in an anticlockwise circle. Every island that they managed to reach, they would be given one hour to rest.

Everyone had to swim, be it with a float or whatnot. A month ago when the plan was announced, practically everyone who did not know how to swim went to learn how as it was quite childish for a middle school student to still need floats when swimming.

When the members from all three strings arrived, it was very obvious that the females walking by all immediately stopped to gape at the wonderfully toned muscles of these well-built basketball players. One could even spot a few flashes in the crowd, these fangirls obviously taking pictures.

“It is alright to swim at your own pace, but remember to be back at the hotel by dinner. You may begin,” the captain announced before plunging into the cold seawater himself. He waited for Tetsuya to adjust to the coldness too before swimming out into the ocean waters with the other Generation of Miracles. They were supposed to swim in groups of at least three just to be safe, so a group of seven would not hurt.

“Tch. Lucky coaches. Lucky Satsuki,” Aomine mumbled. Only the members had to swim, so coaches and managers could just relax the whole day and go to wherever they wanted to go throughout the day.

“Aomine-kun, you are a male. You should expect that the ladies should get special treatment. In addition, you should respect the coaches,” Tetsuya replied. Seijūrō smirked since he was also about to say the same thing, courtesy of their father who taught them everything there was to becoming a gentleman.

“Aomine, you should learn from those two,” Midorima agreed. Aomine just huffed and tried not to laugh when he turned towards Midorima. The rest already had their barrels of laughter from seeing Midorima. Apparently his lucky item was a swimming cap with very childish designs on it and it just looked totally HIRARIOUS on the greenhead. Midorima did not even seem fazed at all from such childishness! Momoi had taken a few photos and would send it to everyone later, of course secretly so Midorima had no idea at all.

Since they wanted to preserve stamina as the distance between an island to the next was very long, they were swimming slowly and after two hours, they were three quarters of the way from their starting point to the next island. When it was late afternoon, the group of seven here swimming their third circuit that day, already halfway between the last island and their starting point. After this, they could end early if they swam fast enough.

It was tiring, not to say the least, so they were swimming even slower than they were at first. The tide was coming in again so the waves were getting choppier.

“Guys! Incoming wave!” Kise shouted across so that everyone could hear. Everyone held their breaths as the wave crashed over them as they resurfaced. Sensing something wrong, Seijūrō swerved around to spot his younger brother. He was used to his presence, so why could he not see him?

“Tetsuya!” Seijūrō yelled before he dived down quick.  He must have drowned when the waves submerged them. His goggles came loose from his fast diving speed, allowing water to enter them. He pried open his left eye and ignored the stinging pain in them from the seawater. He did not care.

He spotted a mop of teal blue and was fortunate that it was not dark yet. He swam towards his brother who was not even thrashing about. ‘Oh no. Water entered his lungs! This is bad,’ Seijūrō thought. He hoped that Tetsuya’s condition would not act up or he would not know what to do.

He grabbed onto his twin and headed for the surface where some of the others were waiting. Some had dived down too and came up shortly after. “Midorima-kun! Tetsuya is—”

“Seijūrō calm down! Murasakibara! Get Tetsuya to the shore quick!” Midorima instructed. The purple-haired giant complied immediately. “Seijūrō, you’re hyperventilating! Calm down! Your left eye is bleeding a lot too!”

Red blood poured out of Seijūrō’s left eye non stop but Seijūrō could not care less. His brother had just drowned! And something told Seijūrō that this was serious. He was about to swim to Murasakibara but two pairs of strong arms grabbed him. He twisted his head to stare at Aomine and Haizaki. “Let. Me. Go.”

“No can do, Seijūrō. You may get hurt too! Look at the amount of blood that’s coming out of your eye!” Aomine yelled. Seijūrō was about to retort but Midorima interrupted him.

“Seijūrō, did you bring an inhaler or something?” Midorima asked.

The redhead nodded mutely. He was getting giddy from the blood loss and his eye would not stop bleeding. Was it because seawater hurt his eye? He was fortunate that it was only his left eye. He weakly whispered, “My haversack… Right side pocket…” He only saw the others immediately carried him off like how they did to Tetsuya before his vision went dark.

* * *

 

Seijūrō knew that he was on a bed. But not the one at home since the body heat of another was not there. Where did Tetsuya go? Breakfast? Wait… what happened before this? He was sure he had fainted.

Then everything came rushing back: The wave, his brother, the islands.

“Tetsuya!” he shouted as he jolted awake. Immediately, some strong arms pushed him back down. Seijūrō tried to pry open his eyes to see who were around him and where he was but his left eye seemed to be closed shut. “Where’s Tetsuya?” he asked again, more calmly than before.

He heard Aomine’s voice, “Hey, don’t worry too much about him. Worry about yourself first! Your eye was bleeding non stop and it was only after an hour after they bandaged it did the flow lessen!”

Seijūrō used his left hand to feel his face but something was connected to the vein on his left arm. He was getting a blood transfusion which meant that he had lost a lot of blood from his left eye. He used his right hand instead and felt that the left half of his face was bandaged tightly. “Where’s Tetsuya?” he was getting impatient. He did not care what happened to himself.

A sigh came from further into the room. “Seijūrō, he’s still in the operation room. When he’s stable you and him will be transported to my father’s hospital back in Tokyo,” Midorima’s voice said.

“How long has he been inside?”

There was a pause before the greenhead said that Tetsuya had been in there for eight hours. All the possible outcomes of what had happened immediately rushed back. Was Tetsuya going to be alright? Did Tetsuya stop breathing? Did his heart stop? If he was in there for so long, does that mean something bad happened? Was Tetsuya DEAD?

Again, he did not know when, but some one told him to calm down as he was hyperventilating. Midorima even threatened, “If you don’t calm down, I’ll ask them to give you morphine.”

“Hey, Tetsuyacchi is strong! Seijūrōcchi should know that best!” a voice that was clearly Kise’s tried to assure the redhead.

“Yeah but Seijūrō… I hope you don’t mind, we kind of tortured Midorima to tell us what happened. He seemed to know more than the rest of us so we wanted to know what happened,” that gruff voice was Haizaki’s. Seijūrō just did not care anymore. He wanted to see Tetsuya or he would go mad.

The door opened just then. “Boys, your friend’s condition in stable. Oh? I see you’ve woke up!” the doctor who came in said. “How do you feel?”

“I want to see Tetsuya.”

“Yes, of course. I will bring you to his room right away but you must make sure not to reopen your wounds, alright?” Seijūrō nodded. The doctor then proceeded to help the redhead remove whatever that was attached to him and asked that the others keep an eye on him.

They entered the room to see Tetsuya hooked up to many machines. He had an oxygen mask on and drips and whatnot. He just looked so weak and fragile with all those machines beside him, no doubt them helping Tetsuya to survive this.

“Tetsuya…” Seijūrō whispered as he sat on a chair beside the bed. “You better not leave me again.” He had been so scared. Yes, he was afraid. He admitted that. He was almost left alone without his brother. This was the second time he had felt so frightened. Silent tears began to flow down his face at the relief he felt that his brother was alright. Not totally, but at least he was not… dead.

The others just watched in silence as they sat on the other chairs or even on the floor and just watched the twins.

* * *

 

The next day, Tetsuya woke up and both he and Seijūrō were sent back to Tokyo. The rest had to follow the school back but immediately after, they went to the Midorima’s hospital.

When they arrived at the room both boys were in, they saw the twin’s father there with them too. “Ah, you boys are my children’s club mates that came over, right? Thank you for saving them.”

“Your welcome,” everyone said. Tetsuya had to rest there for a week and Seijūrō had insisted to stay there with him too. Of course, their grades would not be affected but just in case, the others, even Aomine, Haizaki and Kise, promised that they would pay attention and take notes for them and pass their homework to them after school or practices.

Since it was a day after Seijūrō’s face was bandaged, Doctor Midorima told them that the bleeding had stopped and it was alright for the bandaged to be taken off. They would also have to see how his eye was affected. When the bandaged was peeled off, the doctor asked Seijūrō to open his left eye slowly.

When he did, everyone gasped at the sight. The redhead tilted his head in confusion. “I can see perfectly well. What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Eh… Seijūrō… your eye is uhh,” the ganguro started.

“… The colour…” that was Momoi.

“Are you sure you can see alright?” Midorima asked.

“Sei-chin, you eye looks weird,” Murasakibara said while munching even more furiously on his snacks, showing his nervousness.

“Oi, Seijūrō, you may want a mirror,” Haizaki suggested.

The redhead was really getting irritated with them beating about the bush. “Just spill it.”

“Seijūrōcchi! Your left eye looks just like mine!” Kise gawked.

The doctor passed him a mirror and sure enough, Seijūrō saw that he had a bright blood red right eye while a shining golden yellow left eye. “That’s… weird. But I can see perfectly well.”

The doctor then tested his eyesight so he closed his right eye. The doctor raised his hand and wanted to show him a number.

“Two.”

Everyone was silent as the doctor had not even raised any fingers. “How did you know?” he asked at last.

“I… I don’t know. I could just suddenly see what you would do and you wanted to show a number two, right?” Seijūrō asked. The doctor nodded and decided to try again.

“Four.”

Everyone gasped. “That’s… simply amazing,” the doctor said. “Well, I guess your eyesight has become even better than before so I don’t think it was infected or anything. You must come back for a check up next month, alright?” Seijūrō nodded.

After the eyesight check with Doctor Midorima, he went back to Tetsuya’s bed. His twin was awake, which was rare since he had been sleeping most of the time during the day due to the morphine that they gave him.

“Sei-nii… your eye… Can you see?” Tetsuya rasped raising a hand to his brother’s left cheek to examine it. His voice was slowly coming back but when he first woke up, he could barely speak and his lungs hurt when he did so.

“Stop talking and yes, I can see. It’s amazing actually. I can see all sorts of things that I could not before. Muscle movements, heart beat etcetera. I can now tell that when you talk, it hurts you, so stop talking,” Seijūrō demanded. The bluenette just smiled at his brother’s protectiveness.

The week went by rather slowly but eventually, Tetsuya was discharged so the twins went back to school. Tetsuya was even further excused from strenuous exercise for a month, so he just did warm-ups during club activities. Seijūrō was bombarded by his fangirls as to what had happened to his eye so he just decided to say the pigmentation in his eye had decoloured and they had all accepted it. Since they were absent for a week, many people asked them about the details of what had happened but they ignored it and pretended like it never happened.

Slowly, no one other than the Generation of Miracles really remembered it and everyone just passed it of like a simple accident. Thus, Tetsuya was still able to participate in many games and Seijūrō had a new found ability. Coupled with his perfect passes, the team was unbeatable.


	8. Chapter 8

The hated sunlight filtered through the window and landed squarely on a certain redhead’s face. He groaned and turned to the other side of the bed. Well, that was weird. He wondered why he was able to turn so easily since another person was always in the same bed as he was.

He creaked his golden left eye open. “Tetsuya?” No response. That was weird. He was certain that it was not even eight yet. Reluctantly, he got up from his bed and went to the bathroom. Tetsuya was probably there anyway. But he was not. After washing up, Seijūrō decided that his brother was down in the dining hall.

But when he went back into his room, he saw Tetsuya seating there, with a tray of breakfast on the bed. He looked up and smiled at him. “Sei-nii, today is our birthday, so I told the chefs that I would make breakfast for you. It’s not as nice as the food you make but I hope you like it.”

Seijūrō was utterly speechless. Seijūrō and Tetsuya were now in their last year of middle school, so his father had increased their workload. After being in the hospital that time, Seijūrō insisted that he do most of the work. Thus, with all the stress, he had TOTALLY forgot about their birthday...

“I... totally forgot. I’m very sorry Tetsuya. I didn’t prepare anything,” Seijūrō admitted.

Tetsuya continued to smile. “It’s alright. Remember we already agreed that neither of us have to give each other gifts?” Seijūrō nodded. “I just wanted to make you breakfast since you’ve been working so hard.”

Seijūrō silently went over to the bed and ate the food. “It’s delicious. When did you improve your cooking? The last time I tried, I almost died.”

Tetsuya pouted. “It was not that bad. Otō-san said it was nice. You finished it too!”

He placed a hand on the soft blue hair. “That’s because Tetsuya made it.” Seijūrō finished up the last bits of his meal. A knock on the door was heard and a butler came in when Seijūrō allowed him to.

“Master wants to see both of you in the living room, young masters,” the butler said. The two hopped down from the bed and the butler followed them out with the tray.

Upon entering the living room, they saw their father sitting behind his large wooden desk. But the weird thing was, all the paperwork that was always constantly there was no where to be seen. Seijūrō asked, “Otō-san... Where did all your documents go?”

“It’s both of your birthdays, isn’t it? I’ve decided. Today, all of us will forget about work and enjoy ourselves. Both of you are turning into fine young men so fast that I’m sure your mother would have been proud,” he said. They knew talking about their mother was a taboo thing, but their father must really be proud of them to use her name. “Come here. I have a present for both of you.”

Both of them walked over and they were passed two black velvet boxes. They were signaled to open it and they did just that. Inside were a gem in each box, one blood red and one sky blue. They were two halves of an yin yang, but were red and blue instead with a dot with the opposite colour in them.

“You both are so close and inseparable so I thought these would suit you. I think as a necklace or ring, it would obstruct both of you playing basketball so keep it in your wallets then.”

Both twins smiled at the elder Akashi and said, “Thank you, Otō-san!”

“By the way, later at ten we are going out. We will meet at the porch then, alright?” The two nodded and returned back to their room.

* * *

 

Ten came by quickly and the two of them were ready outside the chauffeur's car.

“Otō-san, isn’t this the route to the stables?” Tetsuya asked.

“Yes. Both of you have not gone horseriding this whole month so I thought that throwing a party there would be nice. Of course, all your friends would be there too,” he replied. The twins turned towards each other, both wondering if the Generation of Miracles were there.

The ride there was full of chatter since the boys rarely had time to converse with their father about trivial stuff. This time alone was a good opportunity to fill their father in on their non-work life.

They arrived soon after at the stables which were owned by the Akashis. It was a nice big one at that. There was a field of green lush grass for the horses to run about and even a stretch of shelter with tables for the riders to rest. That was where they headed first, only to be glomped by their ‘Dog’ on the way. They were lucky that they had braced themselves for impact or they would have fell bottom first into the muddy road. That would have further resulted in the Dog getting his training to be quintupled for not only dirtying Seijūrō’s clothes, but also Tetsuya’s.

“Kise-kun, we would appreciate it a lot if you would let us so go we could walk properly,” Tetsuya said. Kise gave him some puppy-dog eyes but after two years of being together, they were totally immune to it. He let them go and along the way to the tables, he was practically skipping and jumping in joy beside the twins.

The two were about to ask where everyone was since they thought that everyone would be there, but everyone suddenly popped out from under the tables. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” everyone shouted once the twins entered the shelters. Party poppers were popped and Aomine and Haizaki had slung an arm around them, almost crushing them. Midorima was just being as tsundere as ever, standing near the cake while Murasakibara offered some chocolate to the two. Momoi was busy taking pictures of them.

“Oi! How could you guys forget about me!” another voice yelled once the noise settled. They could not believe it. They spun around to be hugged by a blur of orange.

“Ogiwara-kun! You came? Weren’t you somewhere else?” Tetsuya asked. Seijūrō was surprised too.

“Of course I was somewhere else, but how could I not attend my two besties’ birthday party? C’mon! Hey, can I push you both face-first into your cake?” the excited teen ask. Both twins shot him glares and he immediately shut his trap.

“Have you guys got to know each other?” Seijūrō asked, referring to the Generation of Miracles and Ogiwara. They nodded and saw Ogiwara and Aomine doing some kind of fancy handshake which the twins found totally pointless. A normal handshake would suffice.

“Hey, but you guys better not go easy on me in the tournament! We’ll win Teikō for sure!” Ogiwara promised as they continued chatting. This was going to be their last middle school tournament, so after this promise, they were sure that they would win their third consecutive trophy.

“Seijūrō, Tetsuya, why don’t you both teach your friends how to ride a horse?” their father suggested. At that suggestion, they immediately brightened up at the prospect of seeing the others smash themselves face-first into the mud. Payback for Ogiwara.

They led them to the stables and fixed some safety gear on them. Of course, the twins had lots of experience so equipment was not needed for them. They allowed them to pick their horses while they went to the back of the stables to fetch their personal horses.

One was a brilliant snow white horse while the other was as black as midnight. The white male one was Seijūrō, called Kōtei (Emperor), while the jet black female horse was Tetsuya’s, named Kōgō (Empress). Those two were siblings, just like the twins were. They put the harnesses on the horses and led them out. The rest immediately ‘ooh’ed and ‘aah’ed at the horses and showed them which horses they had chose.

Horses were not as easy to ride as many people had thought. Firstly, it depended on whether the horse liked you. Secondly, it was about how confident you were at horseriding. Thirdly, it was how good you could link with the horse and control it. There were some other factors but these were the main few for beginners.

The twins demonstrated how to hop onto a horse and they did it fluidly while the rest fumbled so much the twins almost fell of their horses in laughter. Since the horses were trained with harnesses, if you pulled the right it would turn to the right, and vice versa. But then again, it was inevitable that some of them pulled the harness a little too hard and fell off.

Ogiwara did and when he did, both twins laughed so hard they had to grab onto their horses to not fall off again. He even fell face-first just like how he wanted to push them both into the cake. “Shige, this will be how you would feel if you would be pushed into a cake,” Seijūrō laughed. Ogiwara just gave them a dirty look. Literally.

Leaving them at one side of the field to practice, the two decided to horseride freely around for a while. Both white and black horses were racing horses so one of the things they would do was to race each other, even doing some tricks with the horses.

A few rounds of warming up later, they started racing with each other, or rather freely riding them around. They could also do some tricks, which was what their horse riding classes were for. Some were dangerous but fun, though it looked like utter suicide to their audiences, whom had fell off a few times.

There were shouts like, “NO DON’T DIE!”, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING GET OFF!” and “HOLY CRAP!”

The twins just laughed it off saying that they were used to this. After all, horseriding (and shogi) was their hobby. Their lunch was cake, in which Aomine, Haizaki, Kise, Ogiwara and Murasakibara all took seconds or even thirds. Midorima was the only one with the courtesy to only take a slice. Fortunately, after seeing the huge cake, their best friend had totally forgot about pushing them into the cake, though the group did prank them by getting unblowable candles. This resulted in the team’s training menus being tripled.

Then they all practically threw their gifts at the poor twins. They opened the presents one by one. Murasakibara had given them this whole hamper of a year’s worth of pastry, but the nice thing was, Murasakibara had handmade all of them. Kise’s one was two branded scarves, one red and one blue, for winter since their birthdays were in winter. Midorima had given them their lucky items for the week. Haizaki and Aomine had shared the cost of the presents, which were two pairs of basketball shoes, each following their hair colour. Momoi had given them a big binded book of photos of the Teikō team, since Seijūrō was the captain and it was a sort of farewell gift. Last but not least, Ogiwara had given each of them a pair of sweatbands, red and blue.

The party was much more eventful than what it sounded like. After all, the twins just spent their past few birthdays together and had no big celebrations whatsoever. This was the first time they had friends come over to celebrate their birthdays and thus, they took many pictures and got them all developed.

Ogiwara had to leave the earliest since he had to catch the train back to wherever he lived but not without promising that he would beat them in the tournament. The rest trickled out of the place one by one, lastly with the Akashis driving back to their mansion.

“What did both of you wish for?” their father asked once they entered the house.

“Otō-san, wishes are not supposed to be known,” Seijūrō said.

He laughed. “But if it’s possible, I will try to make them come true.”

“Fine. I just wanted Tetsuya to have better health.”

“I wanted to go to Seirin High School,” Tetsuya told them.

“No matter what school, I’ll follow Tetsuya,” Seijūrō said.

Their father scratched his chin. “Seirin? The new school in Tokyo? Ah, then we do not have to move then. I initially planned for both of you to enroll into Rakuzan but it’s alright as long as your grades are still mantained. Joining the basketball club again?”

Both answered simultaneously, “Of course.”

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

_“The Teikō Middle School basketball club. An incredibly strong team with over one hundred members and three consecutive championship wins. Amongst their brilliant record, the generation of seven prodigies was known as the ‘Generation of Miracles’. Though the seventh member was rarely seen, he was recognized by the other six members, known as the phantom seventh man.”_

“Heeeeeh, so this is Seirin? It looks nicer than I expected,” Seijūrō muttered as he and his brother tried to sneak through the front gate as inconspicuously as possible. It was something that both of them had been working on, for Tetsuya to use his lack of presence to cover Seijūrō too. The school grounds was very noisy, much to Seijūrō’s dislike, but the teal-haired boy beside him seemed too engrossed in his newly discovered light novel to even care. “You just want to join the basketball club, don’t you, Tetsuya? Alright, let’s head over directly to their booth then.”

**~Meanwhile~**

“Basketball! Basketball club! How’d you like to join the basketball club?” a cat-mouth year two shouted.

“Koganei, you can’t be serious,” a raven-black-haired student told the previous one.

“How else am I supposed to say it?”

Sparkles were seen around the former as he demonstrated, “New kids, join the basketball club! The basketball club needs some serious help!” (A/N: It’s a pun in Jap but I copied the not-even-funny-English-version)

“I’ve had enough of your jokes, Izuki,” Koganei sweat-dropped. “Mitobe, make sure they hear you!” he shouted to a taller black-haired student. Mitobe just smiled like he understood what to do but just went on silently giving out application forms. Another sweat-drop. “You’re not gonna do it, are you?”

“Are you guys in the basketball club?” a taller-than-all-three-of-them redhead stood before Koganei. Koganei slowly stared up at him and could only gulp before he was whisked off by the redhead.

**~Meanwhile~**

“A few more would be nice… We didn’t even get ten,” a short-haired girl sighed as she stared at the few application forms in front of her. Beside her was the captain and shooting guard of Seirin’s Basketball Club, Hyūga Junpei. Aida Riko, the girl and also their coach, was busy teasing the bespectacled captain before a redhead dragging Koganei sat on the chair in front of them.

Riko could only stare at the boy giving off such a menacing aura like that of a wild tiger. “I want to join the basketball club,” he said. Riko was just welcoming him and introducing the club to him when he interrupted, “I don’t care. I’m leaving after I leave my name.” He passed the form back to Riko.

“Huh? You don’t have a reason for joining?”

“Not really. Basketball’s the same no matter where you go in Japan,” he said as he crunched up the cup given to him and threw it into the bin a few meters away. Basketball here in Japan was nothing like the street ball in America.

“Kagami Taiga…” Hyūga muttered as he picked up the clipboard. That was when Koganei noticed two forms lying on the table and passed them to Riko. Riko thanked him and picked the two forms up.

“Let’s see… Akashi Tetsuya and Akashi Seijūrō. WAIT WHAT? THE TWO FROM TEIKŌ? WHAT! They’re both from the Generation of Miracles! I know Akashi Seijūrō is the captain of the team, but why can’t I remember Akashi Tetsuya’s face?” Riko clutched her hair and whined.

**~Meanwhile~**

“Sei-nii, I already went to take those forms secretly, why can’t you be the one to pass them up?” Tetsuya sulked. He wanted to continue reading his book but his brother had insisted that he get the form and pass it up.

“I’d attract too much attention. You wouldn’t want to be stalled there and be unable to read your book, right? Anyway, what’s done is done. Let’s go to our classes,” the older twin said.

**~Time Skip~**

All the year one students lined up in a row. Some whispers were heard saying that Riko was a cute manager. Those boys got punched in the head by Hyūga. “SHE’S YOURE COACH, DUMBASSES!” Moments later, the coach then introduced herself and the old man, Takeda-sensei, as their advisor.

Riko started, “Now that you have been acquainted with Takeda-sensei… EVERYONE TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRTS!”

“WHAAAAAAAAT?!? WHYYYYYYYYYY!” everyone yelled.

One by one, they took their shirts off and one by one, Riko examined each one of them, giving tips and observing their bodies like she was a human scanner. Well… technically she already was, a result of working with her father at the Aida Gym since young. When she scanned someone, all she saw was the numbers.

She came to Kagami and when she scanned his whole body, she could only stare in wonder at the amazing numbers of this tall redhead. Those were certainly not the stats for a year one high school student. She could not even see his potential! However, she was caught staring too long and continued down the line.

The next person was another redhead but instead, his numbers were… perfect. There was no flaw in this person’s body and when she looked up, she was met with piercing red eyes. She jumped. Akashi Seijūrō, the captain of the Generation of Miracles was standing right in front of her very eyes! Before she was about to be caught for staring too long once again, she coughed and looked at her clipboard, realizing that Seijūrō was the last in line.

“Uhm… Is Akashi Tetsuya here?” she asked. No response. “Alright! Let’s start practice!” Everyone then started putting on their shirts.

“Excuse me. I am Tetsuya,” a voice suddenly said before her. This was the first thing that popped up into her head:

Ghost.

She screamed.

“WHEN HAVE YOU BEEN HERE?!” Hyūga asked, also equally shocked.

“I’ve been here the whole time,” came the deadpanned answer.

“Tetsuya, you didn’t have to do that. And yes, he had been here the whole time,” Seijūrō backed him up. “If you really want to make sure, yes, this person here is my younger twin brother, Akashi Tetsuya.”

Recovering from her shock, Riko instructed him to take off his shirt and was shocked for the don’t-know-how-many-time-th in that day. His stats were way too low! Meanwhile a certain tiger was thinking about how strong the ‘Generation of Miracles’ was.

**~Time Skip~**

The sun had already set but Kagami was still at the street basketball court practicing. He was about to shoot the ball when he was shocked by the sudden appearance of two figures. He missed.

The guy from before, Kuroko, caught the ball. There was an awkward silence between the three. Kagami sighed. “I’ve been studying in America until the second year of middle school. Ever since I’ve come back, I’ve been appalled by how low the standards are here. I’m not looking to play basketball for fun. I want to play a more serious game that really gets me going. I—”

“Ah, such a long meaningless rant. You want to challenge us to see how good we really are, am I wrong? Just because my brother here looks weak. Fine, so be it, but be prepared to lose,” Seijūrō said. Personally, he had been ticked off from the moment he had first saw the redhead, but Tetsuya seemed to like him because of the similarities between Kagami and Aomine. Well, the old Aomine anyway. “So, versus me, or both of us? I won’t stand someone like you bullying Tetsuya.”

Kagami smirked. “I bet I can take you both on. The team to reach ten points wins.” Seijūrō almost scoffed at that. Ten shots would have been harder than ten points. Such a dumb challenge. Even if Seijūrō had always been a point guard, rarely shooting threes in games, he could still make ninety-nine percent of his three-pointers.

Three minutes later, Kagami could be seen panting like hell while the other two just had sweat drops here and there on their faces. Suddenly Kagami started laughing. “Hahaha! So THAT'S what the Generation of Miracles is! I bet that was not even half your potential! Alright, fair enough, I will one day beat all of you!”

“Uh, Kagami-kun, you technically can’t beat us. We are in your team,” Tetsuya interrupted. Kagami growled. Why didn’t he think about that before?

“Fine! The others! There’re seven of you, right? Means I’ll beat the other five!” Kagami shouted.

**~Time Skip~**

The seniors and juniors were going to play a mini-game. Since Seijūrō really did not need to be tested, he opted to stay out since there were too many juniors. At first, Kagami was doing all the scoring, but when the juniors overtook the seniors, they started to get serious. Two players marked Kagami while the rest scored points, not allowing Kagami to move much. Seijūrō was about to fall asleep watching the game. If he were to be captain, he would be picking out all their small habits one by one by this time, forcing them to train it all out.

The juniors were being ticked by Tetsuya, as expected. He was always loosing the ball or even dropping it. It was just a matter of time before Tetsuya would show his true potential anyway. No one knew how to bring out his full potential. Well, all except Seijūrō.

When the younger twin finally decided to go all out, the tables were turned immediately. Even his own teammates never knew when the ball would come flying their way. It was already expected that the year ones won.

**~Setting Skip~**

Kagami had just dropped by Maji Burger’s for his veeeeeery large meal. His tray was packed with a mountain of burgers. He went to sit at an empty table. Or so he thought it was.

“Hello,” came two very similar voices.

“GAH! Where the hell did you both come from?!” Kagami yelled as he almost choked on his burger, staring at the twins. “Wait what are you two even doing? People will think we are friends!”

“Firstly, we were sitting here first. And aren’t teammates supposedly friends?” Seijūrō argued. Both of them were holding milkshakes, sipping at them slowly. Tetsuya’s was a vanilla-flavored one while Seijūrō’s was strawberry.

“Move somewhere else!”

“We don’t want to,” Tetsuya answered. “This is our usual hangout.”

Kagami sighed. Instead, he threw them both each a burger. “You both earned that.”

“Thanks.”

The sky was dark when the three of them started to walk home. “So, just how strong are the other members of the Generation of Miracles? If I played them, how would I fair?” Kagami asked. Personally, he believed he could beat anyone (other than the twins) on a one-on-one. Maybe even Seijūrō if Tetsuya was not playing.

Tetsuya thought for a while before replying, “That two-on-one was not even considered warm-up for us. No one would dare to challenge Sei-nii to a one-on-one so you would only beat them if you beat him. Anyway, you would not even reach their feet at the level you are playing.” A tick mark formed on the redhead’s temple.

“But,” Seijūrō interjected, “each of the other five have all gone to different schools. Only one will stand at the top.”

Kagami started laughing. “That’s great! It’s just the thing that lights a fire within me. I’ve decided. I’ll crush all of them and be Japan’s No. One Basketball player!”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Seijūrō scoffed. Another tick mark formed.

“But we’ve decided,” Tetsuya said. “You can’t do it alone. I’m a shadow. Sei-nii is the light. The brighter the light is, the darker the shadow will become. I will make Kagami-kun my light too. Two is better than one, right? Together, the three of us can be the best players in Japan.”

“Heh. Do what you want,” Kagami smirked. It looks like Japan was better than he thought it was.

“You know, Kagami-kun, you seem like a bigger jerk than Aomine-kun, but still better than I expected…” Seijūrō snickered.

“HEY!”


	10. Chapter 10

Tetsuya knew that he was overexerting himself too much but he knew he had to do it, not only for Seirin, but for himself, Seijūrō and Aomine. He knew he had promised his brother to tell him if anything was wrong, but this match could determine a lot. He would do anything to get his best friend back.

So when the fourth quarter came and he had been playing non-stop, he felt that he could collapsed soon. And he did. The world just suddenly blacked out.

* * *

 

“Tetsuya!” Seijūrō yelled as his brother’s body hit the ground. “Tetsuya! Wake up!” The match was immediately stopped by the whistle of the referee. Aomine had also rushed over, worry marring his face. Tetsuya’s situation had been stable ever since the training camp they had, so this happened as quite a shock. But it was not unpredictable.

“Oi, Seijūrō, did you bring the inhaler?” Aomine asked hurriedly

“Yeah, it’s in my bag!” he replied, trying to make his brother up. The rest of the players had crowded around while Momoi rushed to the redhead’s very obvious red bag to find it. Riko, recognising it as a health issue immediately, ordered the gathered players to give the younger twin some space, which they obliged immediately.

It was just coincidence and possibly good luck that the Generation of Miracles who were not on court were all in the spectator stands. After all, Midorima would have said later that Sagittariuses had the best of luck but overexerting would lead to something bad happening. Oha Asa was normally weirdly right. Thus, those aforementioned ran as fast as their basketball-trained legs could carry them down the long flight of stairs that seemed endless.

Midorima, who had been slightly trained as a doctor, immediately snatched the inhaler from Momoi and started to temporarily treat Tetsuya. The Tōō coach had already called an ambulance and it came whirling in. No one had the heart to stop Aomine and Seijūrō from abandoning their match so the whole group left in the ambulance. With the loss of most of their fire power, Seirin, who had been holding up quite strongly, lost to Tōō. No one could blame their loss of attention. Everyone was distracted too.

When the buzzer sounded, both teams shook hands briefly before rushing to the changing rooms and then to the hospital. It was fortunate that they were playing the last game that day. Upon reaching the hospital and cramming into the lift, they saw that all the other teams of the Generation of Miracles were there too. When both later teams came up to them, Kasamatsu immediately hushed them and brought all the rest down with them.

“They’re very emotional now so we shouldn’t disturb them. Can you believe Akashi Seijūrō was close to tears? And from the looks of things, this has happened before, so I think it won’t be that serious,” Kasamatsu explained when they reached the lobby by stairs (they were such a big bunch that even the stairs seemed too small for them).

It was an hour before someone walking into the lobby and came to greet them. He looked like a much grownup version of the young Teikō captain. “I believe you bunch are my sons’ basketball team and friends? Thank you for taking care of them,” the redhead said. “I am Akashi Hayato, Seijūrō and Tetsuya’s father. By any chance would you happen to know where they are?” His face seemed emotionless but there was still a twinge of worry laced in his voice.

“Up on the fifth floor by lift, turn to the left until the end of the corridor,” Ōtsubo answered. “But... If we may ask, sir, has this ever happened before?”

The man tilted his head to the side. “I guess none of them have told you yet, have they? I’ll leave it up to them to tell you. As much as I would like to converse with you, I have to go see how my sons are doing.” With that, he left the large group of boys, leaving them in an awkward silence as they did not want to disturb those left upstairs.

“Dammit! I knew I shouldn’t have pushed you guys so hard...” Aomine cursed as he yanked on his own hair.

“No one knew this would happen. It’s not your fault Aominecchi, right Seijūrōcchi?” Kise asked, wide-eyed like a little puppy. Seijūrō had his knees curled up to his face and did not answer the blond. He looked like he was sleeping, but the rest knew better. He was not going to respond to anything until his worries were dispelled.

“Seijūrō,” a stern voice suddenly broke the tense silence. This time, the younger redhead immediately jerked his head up to look at the speaker, his father. This time, the man’s voice softened, “Seijūrō, I know what you’re thinking. This is no one’s fault and neither is it yours. You know Tetsuya wouldn’t like it if you keep blaming yourself like that.”

The youngest of the group nodded slowly but remained quiet. The father went to sit with the few boys there until the door to the operation rooms opened. As usual, they rushed to see how Tetsuya was but was also met with the usual of him being unconscious from the morphine.

“His condition is currently stable but it seems that his condition may deteriorate. Just make sure that there are no loud sounds and give him space,” the doctor said. “We will transfer him to the Tokyo Municipal Hospital as he was originally referred there.” Tetsuya was then wheeled into the ICU.

* * *

 

Tetsuya cracked open an eyelid slowly. Everywhere was dark, which was good, since he had deduced from his tensed and feelingless body that he had been out for quite a while. He dared not move too much for the fear of opening any wounds. It was night time so he wondered if anyone was awake.

“Sei...? Are you awake?” he croaked out softly through the oxygen mask, slightly frowning at his raw throat.

There was a sharp inhale of breath before anyone talked. “Tetsuya? You’re awake! And shh, you shouldn’t be speaking. Just rest and sleep for today,” he heard his brother whisper. He tried to reach for his brother and through the moonlight, Seijūrō grabbed his hand and lowered it, holding it until Tetsuya felt sleep overcoming his senses.

The next thing he knew, sunlight was filtering through the window that was not originally there the night before. He immediately shut his eyes to adjust to the blinding light. Was he in a different place now?

“You’re finally awake, huh?” he heard a gruff voice say.

He opened his eyes once again to be met with gray. He coughed a few times before taking the oxygen mask and saying, “Haizaki-kun? Where *cought* am I? What about Se--”

“Oi, Tetsu, stop talking or one day I bet you you’ll become mute. Anyway, you were brought to the Tokyo Municipal Hospital this morning. It’s late afternoon now and everyone had to drag your stubborn hell of a brother back to your house to rest. Your father had to convince him for an hour too before he budged. He didn’t sleep the whole time last night. Anyway, we’re gonna be taking care of you while he’s gone. The rest went to get drinks,” Haizaki explained.

He walked over closer to the bed and sat down on the chair beside it. “So, how are you feeling?”

Tetsuya was about to answer before he was interrupted once again. “Wait, no, I told you not to talk. Bad right? I bet Seijūrō could see how bad it was with that eye of his.” Just then, the rest of the Generation of Miracles including Seirin walked in. Aomine, Momoi and Kise were missing from the group as their teams had a match today.

“TETSUYA!” everyone shouted. Tetsuya cringed visibly while Haizaki yelled at them to shut up. He smiled weakly at them though he felt awfully drugged and tried to converse with them as much as he could.

It was evening when Seijūrō finally arrived at the hospital after a restless nap. By then, everyone had gone home, leaving the twins alone with their father who would be coming up to the room soon.

Seijūrō just sat beside the bed and there was a content silence between them. “Tetsuya...” Seijūrō started. “I saw it. It’s getting worse. I don’t want to say this, but it’s so bad I thought you would have died there and then.”

“I won’t die. Not that easily. I promise you I will live through this, Sei-nii,” Tetsuya smiled and said, his throat not as raw as before with so many of them fussing him to drink up previously.

Seijūrō frowned slightly but smoothed out his features immediately. It was going to be hard for Tetsuya to keep his promise. He and his father had just payed Doctor Midorima a visit to ask about Tetsuya’s condition and was met with grave news.

Since the training camp in middle school, Tetsuya’s condition had been worsening slowly, day by day, until his body had finally collapsed during the match yesterday. It was inevitable that Tetsuya’s life would be shortened by a lot once again, with a very veeeery small chance that he may live through this. Seijūrō could see it too, with his Emperor Eye. Tetsuya had a hard time breathing or even talking and moving about. But it would do no good to give Tetsuya such grave news.

“I’ll hold you to that then,” Seijūrō replied, smiling as best as he could. “If you left the world, I don’t think I can continue living on my own, you know that?”

“I’ve told you, I’ll live through this. After all, I still have to take care of you and Father and help Seirin win the Winter Cup. We lost in the Interhigh, didn’t we? And then Nigō would miss me so much. Our friends and especially Ogiwara-kun won’t be able to bear this too right? I promised Mother that I would fight against this. But most importantly, don’t you remember that promise we made on that birthday? So don’t worry, I’ll have recovered before you know it,” Tetsuya tried to reassure his brother.

Seijūrō was utterly not convinced, though he did put up a front. He silently thought, “Tetsuya, don’t you know that I can tell that you’re lying? You’ve always been such a bad liar in my eyes. Nothing can fool me. You know that you won’t live through this.”

Before the talk could continue any further, their father came in and they ceased their chat.

 


	11. Chapter 11

“Tetsuya!” Haizaki yelled as he rushed over to the bed. Tetsuya’s hand was covered in thick dark red blood as his body was wrecked with coughs. Haizaki was not one to help others often, but taking care of Tetsuya had changed that. He immediately helped Tetsuya into a sitting position and placed his hand on his back to help him. “I’m going to call the doctor,” he said gruffly before sprinting down the hospital corridors.

It was now on a rotation basis that each of the Generation of Miracles come and take care of Tetsuya after school. However, this week, Midorima and Seijūrō were away on camp for the winter cup, while Kise and Aomine were playing their games in the Interhigh, so Haizaki, who usually skipped practices anyway, along with Murasakibara if he was not busy, doubled for them.

He came back with Doctor Midorima soon after and he checked Tetsuya again. “Are you sure you don’t want to inform your brother? He would prefer to know such progressions in your condition,” the doctor asked for the fifth time that week.

Tetsuya shook his head. He was not going to worry Seijūrō anymore than he had already. Haizaki frowned, “You know, not only you’d be slaughtered, I’d be mutilated and chopped into pieces!”

“I don’t want him to worry,” Tetsuya managed to croak out. Ever since the camp started, his lungs have been becoming weaker and weaker over the days. It was only a day more before his brother and the rest of Seirin would return to Tokyo and Tetsuya dreaded the day Seijūrō would reprimand him again.

Haizaki sighed and gave up trying to convince Tetsuya otherwise. Tetsuya had been in the hospital for many weeks already and he was getting bored of the small square of scenery that could be seen from his room window. He wondered about the day that he could finally leave this place.

* * *

 

Seijūrō was about to burst into his brother’s room to greet him when he heard the coughs first. “Tetsuya? What happened?” he ran into the room as he asked. Murasakibara was patting Tetsuya’s back softly and turned to see Seijūrō barge in. “Murasakibara-kun, what happened to Tetsuya?” he asked the purple-haired giant.

Having been requested by Tetsuya not to tell Seijūrō anything, he grunted and turned back to Tetsuya. “Answer me, Atsushi,” Seijūrō demanded, his voice lowered threateningly.

Tetsuya had not stopped coughing. It meant something serious. Murasakibara hit the call button for the doctor and a nurse came over, who immediately called for Doctor Midorima. Seijūrō could see that Tetsuya’s lungs were failing him at a rapid rate already. He gritted his teeth in anger that Tetsuya did not inform him of anything as he could only follow after the doctors who rolled Tetsuya into the operation room.

He sat outside the room and shot a death glare at the giant. “Murasakibara-kun, why did you not tell me anything about Tetsuya’s condition?” he asked slowly but full of threat.

The taller of the two fidgeted in the seat opposite the redhead. “Tetsu-chin made me promise not to tell you anything. I would have felt bad if I didn’t keep to his promise.”

“Hiding things are useless from me,” Seijūrō insisted but did not continue the argument. He was tired from his camp, tired from all the hecticness of work, tired from the problems his brother faced, tired from everything. But he knew he could not rest. Not yet, at least.

He knew the operations lasted a few hours at the least, so he called up the others to inform them on Tetsuya’s condition. He knew they would rush to the hospital immediately, save Aomine, Momoi and Kise as they had games to play.

He left Murasakibara outside the operation room without saying a word and the giant did not ask anything either. He went back to his house to unpack his stuff and clean up, before returning to the hospital once again.

It was evening and almost sundown when Tetsuya was released from the room, unconscious, but alive nonetheless. Seijūrō was of course relieved but before he could follow the rest to Tetsuya’s room, his father and him were held back by the older Midorima.

“Akashi-san, I have to talk to both of you in private. Please follow me to my office,” he instructed. The office was not as neat as Seijūrō would have expected, since Midorima was so prim and proper. Stacks of paper were on the table, not allowing Seijūrō to discern the colour of the table, and even on the floor. Well, that was only to be expected for one of the most renowned hospitals in Japan and the head doctor of that hospital.

He sat down on a chair and gestured for the two Akashis to do so too, which they did. Both of them were as tired as anyone could be. The doctor heaved a large sigh. “As both of you can tell, Tetsuya’s condition have been spiralling for the worse everyday. I’ve even given him a new treatment but his body seems to be rejecting it. Thus, I have taken the initiative to contact the pulmonary doctors from other countries, who may have more knowledge.”

He paused for a while to take in their reactions, fortunate that they were not too shaken. “The thing is, the only way Tetsuya can be saved would be to have a double-lung transplant.” At this, Seijūrō took in a sharp breath. A one-lung transplant was hard enough, considering the lung must be compatible with the patient, and not every dead body would want to have their organs removed and given to someone.

And now, Tetsuya needed a double-lung transplant?!

The doctor continued, “We do not have any other options, so we will try to look for a donor as fast as possible. If we are not in time, Tetsuya may only have until the end of winter.” With that, the doctor dismissed the two redheads.

* * *

 

They hated to see Tetsuya so distraught. “Sei-nii must really be angry at me...” he whispered, not like he could help it. If he ever used his normal voice to speak, it would result in an almost positive coughing fit. That was how bad his lungs have become.

After the training camp, he had only saw Seijūrō once, and that was when he was still groggy from all the drugs and could barely stay awake. After that, it was only the others that have came to see him. Everytime the door opened, he had hoped against hope that Seijūrō would be the one to stand at the door. His father had visited a few times, but only for a while as he was busy with work. However, no matter how hard he had tried to pry information of Seijūrō from his father, the redhead would only reply with “Your brother is fine.”

It was frustrating him to no end. Fuelled by his sadness, his condition seemed to turn for a worse faster than doctor Midorima had expected. He may not even last long enough to watch the Winter Cup, which he dearly wanted to.

So currently, in the same white room filled with the scent of antiseptic, Tetsuya was surrounded by many of his teammates, ex-teammates and other ex-teammate’s teammates. Or basketball-heads in short. Everyone knew how down Tetsuya was feeling from Seijūrō not being here.

“Tetsuya, is there anything you want to do? You know staying here is quite uneventful,” Kagami asked. Tetsuya was broken from his reverie and tilted his head in thought.

“I don’t really know. I want to watch the Winter Cup but there’s still some time before the game, so maybe something smaller. Maybe we could ask Doctor Midorima to let me get outside for a while? Or maybe I want to see Nigō. But Doctor Midorima would say there would be dust and that I’ll have another coughing fit,” Tetsuya mumbled. Of course, the rest kept very quiet so that they could hear what Tetsuya said, which made him quite awkward sometimes. He was never the center of attention.

Midorima huffed a little before answering, “I’m sure I could convince my father of something.”

That was how Tetsuya came to always wear an oxygen mask since Nigō had a small area in the room allocated to him. The dog seemed to understand that he was not to cause any trouble and thus, never barked in the hospital. Surely, Tetsuya’s mood lightened and even other patients in the hospital came to see the fluffy and irresistibly cute dog.

But nothing could quench the worry in Tetsuya’s heart about Seijūrō.

What was Seijūrō doing?


	12. Chapter 12

“It’s done. We can go back,” a blond smiled as he informed the redhead lying on the bed.

* * *

 

Kagami was mad. Not only him, but the others. Doesn’t Seijūrō know how much support Tetsuya needed at this critical time? “I swear... I’ll murder Seijūrō on the spot when I see the damn bastard,” he growled as he approached Tetsuya’s room after getting some drinks for everyone.

“What do you want to murder me for?” a VEEEEEEEEEERY familiar voice asked behind him. Kagami froze for a while and spun around.

“Seijūrō! I AM GOING TO MURDER YOU! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TETSUYA HAD SUFFERED BECAUSE OF YOU?!” Kagami yelled as loud as a hospital would allow. He was not so inconsiderate and at this point, he did not want Tetsuya to see Seijūrō yet. He headed towards Seijūrō to at least give him a piece of his mind (aka slap him), but a stronger arm stopped him.

He did not notice that Seijūrō was not alone. Another foreign doctor had stopped him. He was clearly not Japanese from the blond hair. “You shouldn’t hit him. His wound may reopen,” he said sternly in his American accent.

“Who are you?” Kagami asked back in English, not really sure what to make of the situation.

“Seijūrō, did you not inform your friends where you were going?” the blond doctor asked the shorter redhead.

He shook his head saying in English, “Only my father. I did not imagine it would take so long.” What? Okay, this was weird. It was one thing that Seijūrō could speak so fluently in English... but he was digressing. Seijūrō with American doctors doing something. WHAT WAS HAPPENING?

Seijūrō sighed and said, “Instead, let me go into the room and see Tetsuya. Then I will explain everything. My father will be arriving soon too.” He walked past a stunned Kagami and opened the door.

“Tetsuya...” Seijūrō whispered as he saw his brother. He was much worse than before and you could barely see him as he was attached to more machines. He looked even more frail than before, and he was already as thin as a bamboo stick previously.

“...Sei?” Tetsuya rasped through the gas mask. “... You’re... here.” He tried to smile.

“I’m so sorry Tetsuya. I would have told you where I was going but you were sleeping and I didn’t know I’d take so long. I’m sorry. I’ll never leave you again. I promise,” Seijūrō held Tetsuya’s hand and said.

The doctor behind Seijūrō came up to examine Tetsuya. “He’s weaker than I expected... I’ll have to do some adjustments.” Tetsuya stared up at the doctor for a while before giving him a confusing look. “Don’t worry. Your brother travelled to America to find a cure for you.” With that, he left the room, possibly to go find doctor Midorima and his other doctors.

“...Sei-nii?” he looked back at his brother questioningly.

“Shhh. Don’t talk,” Seijūrō hushed him. By now, Kagami had called the others back to Tetsuya’s room as the rest went to eat lunch. Seijūrō scanned the room for a while before continuing, “We could not find a double-lung transplant for you. As hard as we tried, not even a single-lung transplant could be found since not every lung could be suitable for you. I even tried to persuade Father to transplant my lungs to you...” At this, Tetsuya’s eyes looked frantic. “But of course he rejected it immediately. So we went looking for a cure and that was when I found Mr Rinne, the doctor that just left. He’s a very capable pulmonologist in America, so leave the cure to him. I’ll be fine, don’t worry yourself. You still want to see the Winter Cup, don’t you?”

Tetsuya nodded but said, “Yeah... But you aren’t telling me everything either.” He weakly reached up and touched the left side of Seijūrō’s ribs. There were bandages there. “... An operation?”

Seijūrō just smiled back, petted Tetsuya’s head and told him to rest before walking out of the door. Tetsuya was already groggy from all the medication and he could see that. When he left, the whole group of them immediately rushed out from the room. “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US?” they all shouted that or something along that lines.

“I would not want to cause you all unnecessary stress. I am alive and well, if that’s what you’re asking. And as for the Winter Cup next week, I’ll be playing. It wasn’t such a major operation,” Seijūrō insisted. “Anyway, if my father comes, tell him to find me at doctor Midorima’s office,” he instructed, then walked off.

* * *

 

“Make sure you don’t get yourself too hyped or you may get another seizure,” Midorima warned the teal-haired teen. “And I’ll be holding your medication with me so please don’t get yourself lost, not like you can help it anyway.” Midorima gestured to the wheelchair. Tetsuya nodded as he was wheeled out of the room by Aomine.

Doctor Midorima had only allowed Tetsuya to go out once, so he decided to save his chance to watch the last game of the Winter Cups. Seirin High versus Rakuzan High. Tetsuya had no doubt that his brother would make it that far, but it was uncertain if Seirin could beat Rakuzan, the Emperors of the Winter Cup. So he wanted to be there to watch the game.

He was still worried for Seijūrō.

Nigō was stuffed into a duffel bag and currently, Momoi and Kise were arguing as to who should carry the dog. Nigō seemed to be quieter since he sensed that he was not allowed to go to wherever we were going. Which was true... until someone found him, that is.

The group had booked front seat tickets, so Tetsuya could watch it more clearly (since he was short but no one dared to mention that fact). They also decided to arrive early so that there would not be crowds of people already hogging seats.

It was a while later when the game started and both teams were walking out from the side doors, waving to the audience, who were cheering like mad. Tetsuya smiled. He wished he was there with his team, so he had to recover fast.

The game started. So far, Seirin was putting up with Rakuzan quite well considering the strength difference between the veteran and a newly started school. It was only in the last quarter when both teams went all out. The speed at which everyone was going was over the top, Seijūrō already using his eyes and his passes, causing the whole team to be in the zone. That was not all. The Rakuzan members were also all in the zone. Was this what you called overkill?

Both schools were neck to neck with each other and you could imagine them trying to strangle the other to deaf... literally neck to neck. Or hands to neck. Tetsuya was also seating at the edge of his wheelchair to watch the game and so were his other friends, all engross in the game which was about to come to an end. In about...

3

2

1

The buzzer sounded.

Seirin won.

Everyone stood up to cheer.

And that was when the headache came. It was so bad he had to cover his ears and even that was not enough. The pain was pounding from his insides and nothing could make it feel better. He clutched his head and tried not to choke out his sobs. He wasn’t sure if anyone noticed yet since everything was so loud around him. His breath quickened again and he was sure he was coughing up blood again because he felt something warm which tasted so horribly like iron. Everything around spun and he could barely see anything, hear anything, feel anything. The pain was too much. He wanted the pain to go away. He wanted everything to stop.

For what seemed like the hundredth time, his vision blackened out again.


	13. Chapter 13

Seijūrō was not informed of this. And he was pissed. He could not blame the others and could only blame whatever physical inability that did not allow phones to be in your pocket during games. The others messaged him, which he only checked long after the game had finished, with everyone still happy and high from the win against Rakuzan High, the unbeatable of the unbeatable. They were all going to celebrate, Seirin, everyone else and of course, including Tetsuya. But for some reasons, the God’s were against him at that moment.

Everyone’s moment of glory was cut short when they had all bathed, refreshened up and checked their phones, ready to leave the stadium for a celebration. So, instead of heading towards Kagami’s very-conveniently-near house, the whole team rushed off to the hospital once again.

It was near midnight and the lightings were dim so patients would not be disturbed. The group registered at the front desk quietly and squeezed into the very familiar lift up to the same usual floor. The corridor was dark, with only the bright illuminated sign of ‘OPERATION IN PROGRESS’ lighting up the benches around it. As expected, there were many people sitting on the bench. However, Seijūrō’s father had not arrived yet so the large group of friends sat there quietly.

Kise broke the silence by asking, “Ne, Seijūrōcchi. What happened in America specifically? That doctor you brought along with you went in with doctor Midorima so fast we could not get any answers.”

Seijūrō pinched his nose and sighed heavily. “It’s a new technology... I was researching about anything that may remotely help Tetsuya in the slightest. As most of you may know, finding a single lung donor would be hard enough, let alone two. Furthermore, my brother has a weak system and most matches would not be compatible with his body. I actually offered to donate my lungs to Tetsuya but that came with strong rejection on my father’s part...”

At this, the others widened their eyes. Seijūrō ignored them and continued, “America’s medical industries were more advanced in this area, so I contacted many doctors to ask for recommendations. I came across Mr Rinne, who did cloning. It wasn’t a much looked into aspect as it was not very safe yet, but I went to find him anyway. He did not do human clones, but instead, cloned tissues for animals to heal them. I decided to take the risk. We’re twins, so my lung would essentially be compatible with Tetsuya’s. It’s still a 50% chance that an organ transplant like this would work...”

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_Dear Seijūrō,_

_If you’re reading this right now... I’m very sorry that I couldn’t keep my promise of staying alive, by your side. But I guess... I really can’t make it through this. I’m glad the nurses did not throw this piece of paper away or really, you’d be mourning my death for years. And well... with my sicknesses, this should be expected by you of all people, right? You know, I’m really scared of dying. I really don’t want to die just yet. I want to be with you, my big brother, still studying with you and maybe when we grow up, we will take over Father’s business together._

_But you know what? I’m not really scared for myself... I’m scared about you. You are full of surprises, brother, so please, please, I beg you, don’t destroy yourself. Don’t blame yourself for whatever reason behind my death. It’s not your fault. Everyone dies at one point and mine was just earlier than most._

_Maybe I’ve read too many horror stories and you’d just scoff, but maybe I became a ghost? I could haunt you all day and maybe I’m haunting you right now while you read this. Haha... alright. It wasn’t funny._

_But don’t be sad, brother. I’ll always be with you no matter what. Go back home, even if I may not be there, I’ll still be there. You’ll see all my books, my bed, my homework, anything actually. You’ll even see me in Nigō._

_You know, I’ve been blaming myself over and over for bringing so much trouble to everyone, especially you and Father. But if I say I’ve forgiven myself, would you do the same? Please? And I’m so sorry, so very sorry for not being with you right now, comforting you and... just being with you._

_But as you read this, I hope you’re not too mad... I wouldn’t want you to tear this letter away because once you’re done mourning, you’d probably regret it a lot. So in case, I’ve even wrote it in my phone but of course, a real letter is much more sincere. You know my password._

_Be strong, Sei. Live your life to the fullest, for both you and me. One day, when you wake up, everything would be normal once again. Move on. Be happy. Find happiness somewhere else and if you do get a girlfriend, I’ll be there at your wedding._

_Hey, remember the gem Otō-san gave us for our fifteenth birthday? Would you please keep it for me, together with your red one? It should be somewhere in our room back home. Speaking of home, please take care of Nigō too... He must be lonely, with you always here to take care of me. Please take care of Otō-san too, because you’re just like him, overworking himself all the time._

_But most importantly, you’re everything to me Sei. Please take care of yourself. Eat enough, sleep enough, don’t get too stressed, please don’t touch scissors for a month, just because, and I’m sure exercise is not a problem for you. Basketball has been one of the things that connected both of us so please, don’t quit. Seirin needs you too._

_You should forget me, Sei. Move on. I do not wish for myself to remain a burden to you even in the afterlife. But promise me one thing: remember the times we’ve spent together._

_Your beloved brother,_

_Akashi Tetsuya_

_Goodbye, brother. I will miss you dearly._

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“... Sei-nii. Put that away! It’s embarrassing! How did you find it in the first place?!” Tetsuya ordered.

Seijūrō laughed and pushed his brother off the bed. “I’m keeping this. It shows your heartfelt love to me as your brother and I shall cherish it.”

Tetsuya leered at his brother. “That sound’s like you’re flirting with me and I’m totally not into that stuff. Give. The. Letter. Back. Now.”

“Nope.”

Life went back to normal after the whole ordeal.

As these twins were, they were...

Brothers Forever.

~End~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you enjoyed this story! Please leave a comment/kudos!


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